Hypotheticals
by KingsOfSarutobi
Summary: When Liu Bei wakes up after his death in the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the first Emperor of Shu is given a new chance to fix his errors and start anew. Will Liu Bei succeed in his quest? Will his failures catch up to him in this new life? (Semi-canon pairings, some exceptions) [Time Travel].
1. Chapter 1: The World Reborn

**This is a genre heavily used in Naruto fanfictions, and I feel it has a great deal of potential in the Dynasty Warriors/Three Kingdoms universe.**

 **First chapter is smaller than the how long they will usually be. Expect more chapters very soon, writing these is very fun.**

 **When Liu Bei wakes up after his death in the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the first Emperor of Shu is given a new chance to fix his errors and start anew. Will Liu Bei succeed in his quest? Will his failures catch up to him in this new life? (Semi-canon pairings, some exceptions).**

 **Just two more notes:**

 **1: I will be using Style Names, which are how many characters are identified at times in the historical Three Kingdoms sources. Style names replace given names when used (ex: Guan Yu - Guan Yunchang; Zhang Fei - Zhang Yide)Many style names are going to be used, and I intend to ensure I know the majority of prominent characters', because who knows when I need to use them?**

 **2: I will be using my minor fluency of the Mandarin language along with my knowledge of the Three Kingdoms period to augment the story, because I feel the story is at its richest when all of the finer details are present as well. Each chapter will have one character that feels appropriate for the mood, and one random fact, because why not?**

* * *

 **生 - To be born**

 **Random Fact: The second character in Liu Bei's, Zhang Fei's, and Cao Cao's style names is the same. The character itself means "Morality".**

* * *

In a small cabin, a man stirred, yawning as he rolled off of the mat he was sleeping on, and jumping when he felt the cold floor beneath him. Frowning, he looked around, taking note of a kind of… Nervous energy in his body.

He looked at his clothes, his hands, and his feet. Didn't he have nice slippers on recently?

Why was he wearing old sandals that looked like they should be falling apart if he so much as breathed on them? Looking at his hands, he noticed that they weren't worn out from age, and he didn't feel the horrifying, crushing weight of sickness and failure he had felt before.

The man blinked and his eyes widened. He distinctly remembered dying, remembered looking around at grief-stricken faces...

Frowning, the man looked around again, noting the cabin's bare surroundings. Hearing a snore from behind him, the startled man looked to see a slightly familiar face.

For a minute or two, the man who remembered his own death looked at the face before putting the pieces together. Wasn't this man an old client of his from his mat-weaving days?

Frowning, Liu Bei observed his former client, again looking at his hands, the worn sandals, and frowned. Was this the afterlife?

Liu Bei closed his eyes, and eventually smiled. If this was the afterlife, he wouldn't have to worry about missing things. Everyone who had died, who he had failed, he could make up the debts to, being brought to join them in death.

Tao Qian and Liu Biao who had made him heirs of Xu and Jing province. One of which he had accepted and failed at protecting, the other whom he had dishonored by ignoring his final wishes but carved up his former realm in senseless war with Cao Wei and the men of the Southlands anyhow...

Sun Jian, the old tiger who would no doubt be disappointed that a man he had fought beside in numerous wars would fight against his descendants. Liu Bei's face soured, the war with Wu was made all the more convoluted by the fact that he was married to Sun Shangxiang, a woman roughly thirty years younger than him…

Pang Tong, who had given his life for the capture of Yi Province. The glory of Shu resting in Chengdu only existed through his sacrifice…

Guan Yu, Guan Ping, Zhou Cang, and all of their subordinates who died at Fan Castle…

Zhang Fei, who had been killed in a drunken stupor by his own subordinates…

Liu Bei closed his eyes and shook his head, wiping away any traces of tears at the deaths of his sworn brothers. He had wept day and night for each of them, and had killed dozens of Wu soldiers to avenge them. 'Plus,' Liu Bei thought, 'Now he could see them every day without fail.'

If this afterlife was even remotely based off of the real world, the former Shu Emperor could find his brothers and sit down in a peach garden with them, and stay together for all eternity.

He could wait for Zhao Zilong to join them, wait for the old tiger Huang Zhong, talk with Xu Shu and never worry about Cao Cao stealing him off, and maybe learn some tactics from Zhuge Liang.

Liu Bei closed his eyes and smiled, truly happy. His brothers – though dead – would be reunited with him.

Hearing a groan from behind him, Liu Bei looked at his former client.

"Have a good rest, Xuande?" He saw the man yawn and stretch his arms before taking note of Liu Bei staring incredulously at him.

"Uhh..." The man blinked and looked at Liu Bei.

"Don't you remember what you said you were going to do?" Liu Bei thought long and hard before shaking his head.

"Oh come now, just yesterday you were rambling about recruiting volunteers to go fight the Yellow Turbans in the name of the Han. Did you drink yourself to death and forget?" Liu Bei's mind essentially shut itself down upon hearing that.

Was this not the afterlife?

Liu Bei quickly put all of the facts together and calmly sorted through them. He woke up in a cabin decently early, with a spurt of energy he hadn't felt since his younger days. His body (from what he had seen) didn't wear the signs of age or sickness he had felt before his death. The Yellow Turbans were apparently rebelling out of nowhere, and he was supposed to be getting volunteer troops?

Using quick mathematics, Liu Bei figured that during that point in his life, he was twenty-two or twenty-three years of age, placing him around the time he met his sworn brothers and made an oath that shook the world.

Given the evidence of how his body was behaving, Liu Bei would place his age in his early twenties, which perfectly fit the Yellow Turban Rebellion's rough timeline...

Liu Bei remembered how he had wept and raged after his brothers died, and again after his military campaign against Wu had self-destructed. Liu Xuande remembered. He remembered how he had screamed for the heavens to deliver justice, acting like a wild beast and demanding the knowledge of how this was fair for dishonorable dogs like Sun Quan and Cao Cao (and later his heir, Cao Pi) to flourish while men of benevolence and honor were shoved into the ground.

Was this the justice of the heavens?

Was he getting a second change, armed with the knowledge of how he had failed the first time? Zhuge Liang had told him of a way to conquer the land in twenty years upon their first meeting, and now Liu Bei knew that his life had at least forty left in it.

As a man who always paid his debts, Liu Bei promised to the heavens he wouldn't squander his chance and set off to recruit troops.

Not before thanking his former client for the hospitality and apologizing for his strange behavior though. This _was_ a former client, after all...

 **Style Names:**

 **Xuande (玄德）** **\- Liu Bei**

 **Translation: Mysterious Morality**

 **Zilong （子龙）** **\- Zhao Yun**

 **Translation: Sub-Dragon (Remember how Zhao Yun always says "Fear the Dragon's Roar!" When he uses his rage attack in DW8, and remember how his weapon is called a Dragon Spear? Comes from his style name :3)**

 **Read, Enjoy, Give me feedback if there's stuff you want me to know.**

 **~KingsOfSarutobi**


	2. Chapter 2: Planning

**So I received three follows and two favorites within twenty-four hours of this story being released, but strangely enough there were zero views, meaning that it was followed/favorited without** _ **anyone**_ **looking at it whatsoever (including guests), or the system is somehow glitched into saying no one has seen it?**

 **I personally find it extremely improbable that there are three bots roaming around, following and favoriting without looking once.**

 **Either way, there is a question at the end of this chapter, which is roughly 3-4x larger than the first one, and Liu Bei struggles with his thoughts.**

 **As usual, there will be a character with a meaning and a random fact, picked by yours truly.**

* * *

 **想 - To think, to want, to wish**

 **Random Fact: Cao Cao had 26 children over the course of his lifetime.**

* * *

While walking along the road to the first town he had recruited volunteers in, he thought quickly about his courses of action.

For now though, Liu Xuande had three primary goals. Firstly, he needed to either keep the Han Dynasty powerful enough to resist the series of warlords powerful enough to control the emperor. Secondly, he had to ensure that Guan Yu and Zhang Fei wouldn't die this time around, by any means. Thirdly, he needed a strategist who he could confide in, someone who could be trusted with his information and change the flow of history without suffering from the issues all of his other strategists had in the past.

Now that Liu Bei thought about it, he found it quite ironic – his strategists often came to horrible fates one way or another.

Xu Shu was forced to leave his court, only for his mother to commit suicide from shame, and his self was forced into Cao Cao's service.

Pang Tong was shot to death by Liu Zhang's men, thinking he was Liu Bei himself, at the tender age of thirty-six.

Fa Zheng died before he had reached his time, and he had died with so much potential never used.

Zhuge Liang's every move during the Chibi campaign and Liu Bei's marriage to Sun Shangxiang was harassed by a variety of people, from Zhou Yu and Sun Quan to the close call where Guan Yu and Zhang Fei had almost revolted.

It was a miracle the Sleeping Dragon didn't go insane or die from stress through the whole ordeal.

Liu Bei however knew a few things, and for a long time had been able to function without a strategist, whether it be during the coalition against Dong Zhuo up to some of his battles against Cao Cao. Granted, he hadn't done very well… But with the knowledge he had, he could live until he decided which strategist would bear the burden of the future.

The former Imperial Uncle kept walking on his way, and knew that he still had two main issues though. Firstly, how could he stop Cao Cao's rise to power without allowing someone else to take control?

During the early days of the Empire's chaos, Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao had both come very close to controlling the emperor, and (though he didn't like to admit it) Liu Bei knew that Cao Cao's rise to power had somewhat stabilized the northern provinces.

For now then, he could let events play out. Liu Bei could still interfere in major battles like the one between Tao Qian and Cao Cao, or the chaos at Guandu that lead to the eradication of the Yuan family.

The matters with Wu were notoriously more complicated.

Firstly, Liu Bei knew that Lady Mi and Lady Gan's deaths were what lead him to accept the marriage proposal from Sun Quan. Lady Mi's death could be prevented by avoiding the whole retreat from Xinye and subsequent battle of Changban.

Liu Bei also wouldn't have to be harsh on his infant son, and the former Shu Emperor knew that many prominent physicians and men of talent had said that Liu Shan's underwhelming talents in comparison to his father's could have some level of grounding in the fact that he had thrown his infant son on the ground headfirst.

Lady Gan died a natural death, but the factors which lead to that _could_ also be prevented to an extent by having a stable base of operations and not moving around as much. The constant travel from one land to the next must have had a toll on her, or at least not kept her in pristine health.

As for the matter of the many figures in Wu who could one day mess with his plans, Liu Bei knew a few things. Firstly, many of the later figures did so on the groundwork of Zhou Yu's plan, who had notably been a fiery pillar of Wu due to the death of Sun Ce, and thus had avoided creating a mess of a power vacuum.

The death of Sun Jian had also seen the Southlands lost to Liu Yao, and thus had spurred many of the conflicts that held Sun Ce back from attacking Cao Cao until the mess with Yuan Shao, and then the Little Conqueror died from illness of some kind. Something about a sorcerer was also involved.

So, how could the former Shu emperor stop the mess that was Wu at the time of his death?

Firstly, Zhou Yu had to either not be in the picture or be controlled by someone with better morals and more benevolence. Then again, Zhou Yu's rise to power was due to the vacuum created by Sun Bofu's death. Stopping the death of Sun Ce, even stalling it for a few years, would keep Zhou Yu on his leash long enough.

In addition, it would give the elder Sun brother time to stabilize the Jiangdong, and give Sun Quan time to mature. Even if his elder brother did pass on unexpectedly, Sun Zhongmou could soundly step into the shoes of Sun Ce and handle internal and external matters without having uncontrollable Grand Commanders and rampant conflicts between civil officials and generals during drastic times.

Then the next matter of affairs – Sun Jian. Liu Bei rather liked the old tiger; he was everything a vassal of the Han should be. Sun Wentai was an honorable man who legitimately wanted to help the Han and remove the traitor Dong Zhuo. When Liu Biao offered him something (that was in reality a trap, but assumed to be good from the heart), Sun Jian offered alliance, feasts the Jing Province officials could come to and have a good time on a yearly basis, and tribute in gratitude.

As a father, he raised his sons very well – Sun Ce would go on to be a conqueror and good official, and Sun Quan would grow into being a dishonorable, Guan Yu-slaying, Zhang Fei's-murderers-accepting… Er… Nevermind. The less said about Shangxiang, the better. Although, Liu Bei reasoned, The Tiger of Jiangdong died when she was an infant.

At the very least, Sun Jian raised his sons to be extremely powerful. Sun Jian's four first officers, Huang Gai, Han Dang, Zu Mao, and Cheng Pu loyally served him and his descendants for their entire lives, and endured beatings, wounds to pride, and humiliation for the sake of the Sun family.

Liu Bei greatly wanted to save Sun Jian from an early death, and the former, er, future? Shu Emperor wanted to save his kinsman Liu Biao and Sun Ce from the tragedies of war if they could avoid them. That being said, Sun Jian's death caused wonders in young Ce, and should the Little Conqueror rise again, the Jiangdong could be used to stall, giving anti-Cao factions time to rise again in order to restore the Han Dynasty.

Liu Bei was beginning to get a headache. He could let Cao Cao rise again, resulting in the deaths of numerous warlords across the realm and the unification of the north… Or he could let much more reckless and much less competent leaders rise, should he decide to kill Cao Cao or take him out of the picture somehow…

And no matter how he chose that, the matter then changed to how he would let the Sun family develop. Liu Bei could probably find no shortage of people who would benefit in the destruction of Wu, but the last time he forced vengeance he lost an army's worth of soldiers, not to mention numerous veteran generals in the attempt.

Both strategically and morally vengeance would seem to be a poor option, but even then, which Sun family member would rule the Jiangdong? If history were to run its course again, would the massive espionage war between Wu and Shu occur again? Would it grow even more from a Shu leader who had the incredible foresight of having lived through it once already?

Liu Bei's headache was growing from the complexity of his situation. Almost limitless possibilities could be achieved through careful manipulation of the situation, but which would be preferable?

Luckily, if history replayed itself as well as before, Sun Jian and his family would live for more years, granting them (and him) time to think and grow stronger.

With that settled, Liu Bei thought of his sworn brothers. He was only twenty-three or so, and his brothers would be twenty-one or twenty-two and seventeen. Great Heavens, to think that Liu Xuande could think of them in their fifties or sixties when they were in the springtime of youth! With that excited thought, Liu Bei then realized something almost as funny.

Zhao Zilong, truly the bravest general of his time, was maybe thirteen or fourteen. Little more than a child, who would one day etch his name as one of the pillars of Shu, whose loyalty was unshaken by drink, danger, and riches beyond comprehension. With that wonderful thought, Liu Bei was forced to his next decision.

How would he stop his brothers from death? Perhaps he could keep them with him at all times…? No, someone as powerful as Guan Yu or Zhang Fei was required to guard over a province should he rule over two at once again. Zhuge Liang was on a plane higher than genius, but even so, only the strategist of an enemy would fear him, most generals would simply resort to brute force. Guan Yu was the perfect choice for defending Jingzhou last time because of his reputation as a saint-like, no, godlike figure in his height. His physical figure was remembered years after his death, and his deeds were like something out of a legend.

So keeping them at his side wouldn't work.

Maybe he could inform them of their dooms once they got reacquainted?

No, because someone like Zhang Fei would take the knowledge as if he was immortal and become more reckless, or begin executing anyone who held the potential to betray him. Given that many of the betrayals were of Yide's making (and the alcohol made a bad situation worse at the best of times), that would be bad. Yunchang suffered from crippling arrogance from his status, which could make him feel he wouldn't be betrayed with this information, or disregard it as factual.

What if he never recruited his brothers in the first place? Liu Bei knew that not having them by his side at all would be horrible, but was it worth it? His brothers would never have to risk their lives time and time again for his benefit. His brothers would never suffer the assassinations and executions they faced, brought down by their own subordinates.

His brothers might live through the chaos, and have a chance to raise their families. Maybe, if the Imperial Uncle could save the Han, maybe he could recommend them, and have strategists like Zhuge Liang or Pang Tong assist them with governing. They would die very elderly, and die with peace in their hearts and souls, rather than on an unfinished battlefield...

And, Liu Bei could take comfort in the knowledge that he was fighting for his brothers, fighting to keep them alive. Xuande could raise Zilong to an almost godlike status, and let him do a lot of governing, and then incorporate more powerful generals to replace the void left by his two pillars of might on the battlefield.

With that thought, Liu Bei went on his way, a fresh spring in his step. However, now he needed officials and generals, or former followers of his who he could rely upon. Obviously Mi Fang and Fu Shiren, who betrayed Guan Yu, had to go. The same held true for Zhang Da and Fan Qiang, who assassinated Zhang Fei.

However, not having Mi Fang would be a problem, because up until facing the potential of Guan Yu's wrath, his loyalty wasn't swayed. His brother Mi Zhu was a capable and loyal politician, who would be a great boon to Liu Bei's second chance. Fang's sister would one day marry Liu Xuande, and protect little Adou to the point of death, even though he was a son of Lady Gan…

So Mi Fang could stay, but the rest were liabilities at best and traitors at worst. Sighing and rubbing his temples, Liu Bei knew that once he had a base of operations, even if it was just a shack in the woods, he could effectively collect his thoughts and make a list of everyone he remembered, dead and alive, traitor and loyal. Planning wasn't exactly his mastery, but when one spends so much time around Zhuge Kongming, one has to pick up some form of strategy…

"Why the long face?" Liu Xuande opened his eyes and saw a man around his own age, who looked completely carefree, and had almost no formality in his posturing, in comparison to the almost regal way the former Shu emperor held his movement. Internally, Liu Bei smiled, outwardly he responded to the question.

"I'm looking to make a unit of volunteer troops to fight in the Yellow Turban Rebellion, and am in dire need of help." The man looked impressed, and the two continued walking.

"I've personally had no military experience, so I'm afraid I can't help you there, as much as I want to end the chaos." Liu Bei gave a small but kind smile and replied.

"Yet a humble mat-weaver as myself is fit to lead a mostly untrained militia to fight the millions of bandits under Zhang Jiao and the other Yellow Turbans?" The man laughed before giving Liu Bei a quick look over.

"You hold yourself like nobility and speak like you're trying to win me over to your cause. I told you before, I'm not a general or anyone with the experience to lead men into battle." Liu Bei gave a hearty laugh in return and gave the same offer he had given the man in another lifetime.

"In order to recruit troops, I'd need someone who can sway people's thoughts with their words, and rally them into listening to a humble weaver. And even after that, who knows what will happen, assuming I survive? No volunteer troops like mine have entered the war so far, all of the others are under the command of He Jin or the other warlords…" Liu Bei pointed to the sky.

"And, Heavens forbidding, I might become someone with responsibility afterward. And even if I hold myself like nobility, how could I manage to hold that reputation up without diplomats, emissaries, and politicians to help me out?" The man looked up to the sky and then looked back at Liu Bei, seeing the verbal appealing being used to win him over, and accepting it.

"Well, I figure I may as well help what I can, even if I'm just a messenger. For the Han Empire, right?" Liu Bei nodded and gave a small but respectful bow, which the man returned.

"My name is Liu Bei, styled Xuande, descendant of Prince Jingsheng from the olden days." The man's eyebrows raised.

"I have no noble name or remarkable traits, but for what it's worth, I'll do my part. My name is Jian Yong, styled Xianhe, and for the time being, it looks like we have a militia to recruit." Liu Bei nodded and chatted with his former subordinate, knowing that the familiar and yet so uplifting feeling of meeting his old generals and politicians would only increase as the more prominent ones were drawn in.

"Jian Yong, when you recruit, I have something I need you to make sure of." Jian Yong looked at Liu Bei, awaiting the command.

"You may find two men, both large. One will be very tall with a long, straight beard, reddish skin, and will radiate an aura of might. The other will be larger and impatient, with a wiry beard, and could possibly be drunk at the time. Should they ask to enlist, decline them on the grounds that it's for their safety." Jian Yong looked slightly confused by the strange order, but nodded and gave his word that he would do as asked.

Several weeks later, Liu Bei had gotten himself a set of proper armor, and his troops seemed ready enough for combat. With their numbers somewhere between 1,800 and 4,000 active fighters it was by no means a large army, but it was a significantly larger force than what he had originally taken into the rebellion.

With the logistics almost done, and nightfall approaching fast, Liu Bei felt that he would have to leave sometime in the next few days – the morale of his troops would be at peak condition, and his supplies would be plentiful enough to feed his men without the risk of being loaded down by too many provisions. Sitting down at his desk with a scroll, Liu Bei started to write possible strategies in the event of supplies being destroyed. As he was midway through, Xuande heard the sound of his old, or rather new officer, and Jian Yong looked at the former Shu emperor with mild irritation.

"Xianhe, you look tired and angry. Is something the matter?" Jian Yong's head jerked slightly as an eyebrow twitched in indignation.

"Those two men you commanded me not to let in came twice. The first time they requested to join your side, and when I sent them off they looked disturbed, especially the big guy with the pair of lungs." Well, leave it to Zhang Yide to deafen his officials…

"The second time they asked why you hadn't been to some tavern, and then said something about returning in two days, and that 'No' would not be an answer when they return. The guy with the long beard had a powerful weapon with him too, looked like the bastard child of a spear and an axe." Incredible. Why was it that whenever Liu Bei wasn't around his brothers did _something_ to make his life troublesome? From harassing Xu Shu and Zhuge Liang to beating officials, his brothers had certainly shown their undying loyalty in… interesting manners.

"I see. Thank you very much for dealing with it, Xianhe. Please tell the troops that we intend to leave tomorrow at sunrise, and I'll make sure we arrange for you to get attendants from the noncombatants. Once you tell that to the soldiers, I'll ensure there is a barrel of fine wine for your troubles." Jian Yong sighed and rubbed his temples before standing up and saluting his lord, making his way to the barracks.

It really was a shame that the former Shu Emperor had to flee from those he had longed to see every waking minute since their deaths.

Days of travel away, a figure rode out on a horse, awkwardly continuing his search, armor and saddle still too large. The lone rider didn't know whether he would kill the person responsible for somehow sending him back decades or weep in joy from all of the opportunities.

Either way, the random spurts of emotions, desires, and never ending energy were threatening to drive him insane.

 **I hope the jump from a ~1k chapter to an over 3k chapter isn't too horrible. I really do try to have consistency. More information about Jian Yong is further down.**

 **So I have a question for those readers of mine:**

 **Who do you think the mystery figure is? Let me know, I'm curious to see what everyone thinks :)**

 **List of Style Names:**

 **Bofu - Sun Ce**

 **Zhongmou - Sun Quan**

 **Wentai - Sun Jian**

 ***Note: Sun Jian is Sun Quan and Sun Ce's father, Ce is older than Quan by at least seven or eight years.**

 **Xuande - Liu Bei**

 **Zilong - Zhao Yun**

 **Yide - Zhang Fei**

 **Yunchang - Guan Yu**

 **Xianhe - Jian Yong**

 ***Note: Jian Yong was a politician of Liu Bei's during the three kingdoms period, but I haven't been able to find any specific dates except for the fact that he served Liu Bei in "the beginning", which could either mean the beginning of his entrance onto the grand stage (Yellow Turban Rebellion), or beginning as in the fall of the Han Dynasty, which would put his recruitment somewhere around Tao Qian passing away and leaving Xu Province to our future Shu emperor.**

 **Jian Yong's latest entry in history is as the acting diplomat who convinced Liu Zhang of Yi Province to give up and turn himself in, which (at least in my views), gives him a lot of flexibility with when he was born and died, so I decided to incorporate him earlier than the rest for the sake of having that first subordinate, that one person to help him with the early stages, and also act as some type of Sworn Brothers repellant.**

 **Don't forget to tell me who you think the figure is!**

 **Happy Hunting,**

 **~KoS**


	3. Chapter 3: War

**I got some reviews this chapter, very nice… Time to reply!**

 **SkullKat90210: It might be Cao Cao, who knows? Liu Bei says he'll do a** _ **lot**_ **of things, like never taking Xu Province, never trying to conquer Jing province, returning Jing province, never attacking Liu Zhang… Basically he says a lot of things, but doesn't often hold them up… I agree, Zhou Yu did what was needed, but would Liu Bei agree? To be honest, didn't think about Lu Bu. Thanks for the review.**

 **SilentNinja: I wasn't aware that her daughters were abducted, thank you for that detail. I agree, should Liu Bei's plan come to fruition, he's placing all of his eggs in one basket, no less. Liu Bei's inheritance isn't necessarily empty – his father was a civilian and died when he (Bei) was young, so he wove matts to support himself and his mother. Going from mat weaver to emperor isn't too much of an empty inheritance, at least in my view.**

* * *

 **站 - To fight, war, battle.**

 **Random Fact: Liu Bei's sons (Liu Feng & Liu Shan)'s given names create the Mandarin word for ascending a throne.**

* * *

Almost a week after Jian Yong started off on his mission, he had arrived at his destination. The camp itself was strong-looking, with large fortifications, numerous guards, and imperial banners flying from every direction.

"And who the hell are you?" Jian Yong turned towards the speaker. The gatekeeper wore the garb of He Jin's men, and was thus part of the Emperor's official army, as if his snobbishness wasn't enough to convey the rough level of the man he worked for.

"My name is Jian Yong, and I've come as a messenger to Lord He Jin, my lord wishes for me to deliver a message." The gatekeeper sneered and opened the door, clearly not impressed with Liu Bei's messenger.

Upon entering He Jin's official quarters, Jian Yong bowed low before smiling wryly at the Emperor's brother-in-law. He Jin was a powerful looking man with an aura of power radiating out from him. The man's office was Spartan by nature, and that impression was only intensified by his glare, coolly meeting Xianhe's stare with a mixture of disinterest and wariness.

"And who sent you? You're certainly not one of my men, and no noble would dream of sending a patched, ragged excuse for an emissary here." He Jin was internally surprised as the man before him laughed.

"My lord informed me that nobles such as yourself would only look at the body of the speaker rather than the body of his intentions… but I never expected him to be so correct! He's read your type like a book, even without meeting you!" He Jin's eyes flashed with anger.

"Far greater men have been killed for far lesser reasons, young man. Don't push your luck with this nonsense." Jian Yong rather sarcastically bowed before yawning and, upon seeing a couch nearby, lounged upon it, smirking before answering to He Jin's incredulous face.

"And as a man far lesser than yourself, I would expect to be executed. However, my lord knows that you wouldn't stoop so low as to kill a man before his message is delivered, especially when there's a fair chance it will benefit you and the war effort." He Jin raised his eyebrow in disbelief, shocked not only by Jian Yong, but by the chance something would help the war effort and speed up victory for his side.

"Speak." Jian Yong yawned again, stretching out his arms before grabbing a skin full of water and drinking half of it.

"My lord is leading a volunteer army towards the front lines with the goal of defeating the Yellow Turban Rebels. He would like to inform you that his army is at your disposal, but the troops are strictly loyal to him. If you give orders to me, I'll pass them on to my lord, who will move his army as needed." He Jin's eyebrows furrowed in distrust.

"And how large is this army?" Here Jian Yong had to be careful. Given that the army could range in size anywhere from 1,800 men to 4,000, he had a number of options with what to say.

"Around 3,000 men strong." By not saying the highest value, he was sure He Jin would send him to a battlefield where smaller numbers of reinforcements were needed, and therefore with a larger army could turn the tide quicker.

"With an army of 360,000 men strong, what use do I have for another few thousand?" Jian Yong was baffled by this response, and stated the obvious.

"Your 360,000 men are fighting several _million_ Yellow Turbans, and the majority of them, despite starting as mere peasants, have grown tough from training and harsh circumstances." He Jin turned his face upwards and glared down at Jian Yong.

"And what does that matter to me? Our troops are well equipped and trained." Jian Yong shook his head.

"Trained for drills and guarding, maybe, but not open-order warfare! When was the last time we had a war of this magnitude?" He Jin didn't have a response for that, but instead reconsidered the deal given. He did know that a Yellow Turban horde was approaching the front lines, and had the potential to outflank him or General Zhu Jan. It wouldn't be horrible if volunteer troops were the ones to buy some extra time…

"The Yellow Turbans under Zhang Mancheng are marching towards General Zhu Jun's position, who is engaged in a fight against the Yellow Turban leader Bo Cai, and he is in desperate need of reinforcements. We have already sent Sun Wentai to march towards his position, but we believe their situation is much direr. There is a back road which could span about three-hundred men at its narrowest point, up to one thousand in its furthest. You can hole your men up there and prevent a major imperial army from falling." Jian Yong openly glared at He Jin before opening up a small scroll. Liu Bei had told him to open it if he was having trouble in negotiations. Reading through various scenarios, he searched for the one he was after.

"Not allowed to enter, threat of execution, disregarding Yellow Turbans' threat, suicide mission, here we go…" He Jin was baffled. Some commoner thought of all of these situations and wrote them down?

Meanwhile, Jian Yong whispered to himself Liu Bei's proposition.

"Should the Imperial Brother-in-Law request for us to go to an obsolete position, in order to buy time for a larger army, the type of position will determine the outcome. If it is totally indefensible, like an open plain, decline and offer our services to General Huangfu Song, General Zhu Jun, or any of the minor generals who serve them. Should he give us a relatively or easily defendable position like a fort, a pass, or a river, accept the proposition and thank He Jin." He Jin couldn't hear what was being said, but he did hear his own name towards the end of Jian Yong's rambling. Before long, the emissary stood up.

"On behalf of my lord Liu Xuande, thank you for giving us your formal approval to join the war." He Jin nodded.

"Supplies will be given to you from Zhu Jun's rations, but don't think you'll be stuffing yourselves. Resources are thin enough as is without volunteer troops coming in and messing the process up." Jian Yong bowed low and walked out, quickly gathering his supplies along with a scroll from He Jin with the formal document of approval on it.

Meanwhile, Liu Bei was marching his soldiers at a brisk pace.

"Come, soldiers! The fighters under He Jin, Huangfu Song, and Zhu Jun are spilling their guts out there. We must catch up to them as soon as possible!" Liu, wearing a set of armor on horseback, pointed one of his twin swords towards the east, the other waving above him in circles, gesturing for soldiers to pick up the pace.

Liu Bei knew that if he kept up the pace, he could avoid his sworn brothers joining the army, and possibly escape them altogether. That being said, Yunchang and Yide were good horsemen, and expecting anything less than tremendous speed from Guan Yu and burning tenacity from Zhang Fei was almost heretical.

"My Lord! My Lord!" Liu Bei looked down at the speaker, a young man who the former Shu Han emperor requested to keep an eye on the army's morale and energy, in order to modify the pace as needed.

"What is it, young man? Any changes?" The fellow nodded happily.

"The army is filled with zeal and desires to save the Han Empire from the Yellow Turbans – they desire to double the pace!" Liu Bei's eyebrows furrowed. Doubling the pace was physically impossible, especially due to the fact that they had limited supplies as is, and Liu Bei knew that tired soldiers always did poorly in a battle.

"Tell the men we will go faster, but not two times. I don't want anyone to be exhausted by the time we get to the front lines!" The young fellow quickly laughed and dispersed the orders before coming back to him.

"The men are ready, Lord Liu. None of us are ready to disappoint you in battle!" Liu Bei looked at the fellow only a year or two younger than him, who wore a sad sort of smile, almost as if he knew what he was getting into.

"You look sad, what's the issue?" The fellow shrugged.

"I only just became a man and I'm already taking part in my first battle. When I told my mother I was going to be a part of a volunteer troop to save the Han, she was both impressed with me and broken by the thoughts of her only son leaving the safety of Xuchang to go fight in a faraway war." Liu Xuande put a hand on the younger fellow's shoulder. No one wanted to die on the battlefield knowing that loved ones would miss them. All soldiers and generals had no fear of death, but most were usually regretful, if only because they failed to succeed in fighting another day.

Looking ahead towards the west, Liu Bei knew that some of his soldiers would die, and he had come to terms with that for the dozens of battles he had taken place in… But as a general of the Han and a man of virtue, he would take whichever road kept the Han Dynasty and his loyal subjects safe, even if his own life had to fall for that to happen.

Several days later, Jian Yong met up with Liu Bei's army and the two marched at the head of the army to discuss tactics and planning, and surmised that they were very close to Zhu Jun's position. Jian Yong was later promoted to supplies manager, and the two lead the army in laughter and merriness, with the rest of the army jubilant at being able to hold a key position.

Upon arriving at Zhu Jun's camp, Jian Yong was once again sent out to find the man himself with He Jin's decree of approval. Zhu Jun told Xianhe to come back and receive supplies every week, and Liu Bei's supply manager realized that he only had about six days of supplies. Sighing, Jian Yong made his way to his lord's new camp, and stored the rations.

"My Lord, we only have six days' worth of rations. I think we may have gotten in over our heads with this." Liu Bei, the young man from Xuchang, and Jian Yong were in Liu's personal tent.

"Jian Xianhe, don't worry. On the fifth and seventh days we'll do heavy rationing, and on all of the other days we will give out full rations, extra on the sixth day if needed. That way, for the majority of the week our army will be in high spirits, and once battle starts, whether we win or lose, the amount of food per person will rise with our casualties." Unbeknownst to the two others in the room, Liu Bei was hoping for a far less bloody battle, and had a third scenario in his head.

"If I may ask, my lord, do we have any information on our opponents? Who their generals are, their numbers, quality and types of troops?" Liu Bei looked at the young man from Xuchang before responding.

"The Yellow Turban general Zhang Mancheng is leading a relatively large force against us, but due to the fact that our army was given a small pass to defend, and our forces are mainly spearmen with large shields, we can hold the enemy back defensibly for a few days until reinforcements can back up our defense. Aside from Mancheng, Cheng Yuanzhi and Deng Mao, a prominent fighter in the rebellion, have arrived." The young man thought for a second, face scrunched up in concentration. Jian Yong and Liu Bei both wondered what he was thinking, but he replied quickly enough.

"They have three major commanders, meaning there isn't a ton they can do in terms of tactics, aside from splitting their forces into three. What we could do is challenge one of them to a duel of some kind, quickly assassinate him, and that will make us only need to worry about two of them…" Liu Bei nodded in approval, and Jian Yong contributed his thoughts.

"My Lord, young lad, something you should know is that the Yellow Turbans are mostly light infantry, and those with armor stole it from dead imperial troops. Unless our spearmen are heavily armored, or we have sufficient backup, we'll be hard pressed to hold the pass for even a few days. I told He Jin that we had three thousand troops, and he told us the pass could hold three-hundred at its narrowest, meaning we'd be ten ranks deep. Assuming we take a better position with a wider point, our ranks will be thinner, and any point that has a breakthrough could easily fall apart." Liu Bei nodded before giving his final verdict.

"Here's what we'll do – We march to the point where we can span ten ranks, but only be seven ranks deep, with the other three standing back as reserve troops to quickly fill up missing ranks. Assuming we take heavy casualties, those extra nine hundred men can plug a hole where the Rebels are approaching from. That being said, the core of our strategy will be killing prominent figures and forcing their morale to waver, partly to make our defense seem stronger than it is, partly because huge masses of untrained peasants as an army has the large potential of causing a chain rout from unit to unit." Jian Yong nodded and the young man made a sound of approval.

"That being said, we also have about five hundred more men than we told He Jin, therefore we could split them up as needed." Liu Bei's final verdict seemed strategically sound for the time being, but Jian Yong didn't know about the five hundred, meaning that the rations he had gotten were even lesser than before. As his two advisors left him, Liu Bei summoned a messenger, requesting slightly more supplies from Zhu Jun, enough to last five hundred people a week. If they got seven days' worth of supplies, more to go around for the army.

Two days later, after heavy training, Liu Bei summoned his troops up for battle. The strongest men, those with long spears, tower shields, and full armor, were put in the front lines as an unbreakable wall of pure iron. Behind them were troops with a variety of armor and weaponry, but all with the same fiery zeal for the Han, and their charismatic general.

Behind the eight-man deep formation of soldiers were fortifications outside of their camp to allow for a swift retreat and extended siege if needed. In the rearmost, on the other side of the camp's fortifications, were eleven-hundred men, also with varied armor, being kept in reserve in the event of trouble on the battlefield. These men would fill up ranks left by the dead, fill into gaps caused by any one of a variety of circumstances, and guard against and outflanking maneuver.

Standing in the center of the formation, Liu Xuande wore his armor as he had for many years, and his twin swords stuck faithfully at his side, ready to carve themselves into legend. The former Shu Emperor didn't have his sworn brothers, but he still had his own life, hardened by years of war. Looking out into the army of Turbans sixty-thousand strong, Liu Bei knew one thing, and one thing only. This battle, no matter how difficult, would pave the way forward for the Han Dynasty!

 **The reviews last chapter made me happy. I like replying to comments and getting feedback.**

 **Some notes:**

 **During the Yellow Turban Rebellion, there were three main generals commanding imperial forces - He Jin, brother of Empress He, Huangfu Song, and Zhu Jun. Historically, Zhang Mancheng didn't lead any sort of outflanking force, but hell, discerning the Yellow Turban rebellion is difficult and field battles are fun. Bo Cai historically smashed Zhu Jun.**

 **Does anyone have any predictions for what will happen in the battle, or any predictions for stuff down the road?**

 **A poll: Which warlord (not realm) is your favorite between Gongsun Zan, Yuan Shao, Meng Huo, and Liu Zhang?**

 **多谢，多谢，**

 **KingsOfSarutobi.**


	4. Chapter 4: The Turbans

**Last chapter was met with some reviews, so I'll address those now.**

 **ChenGong91: I agree, Liu Bei is a hypocrite, but then again Sun Quan and Cao Cao are also in that same boat. Liu Bei betrays his convictions for glory, Cao Cao kills a few of his subordinates, and Sun Quan attacks his enemies. I'm glad you like reading mine so far, and if I have time I'll check yours out too! :) My first game was DW8XL, but I've read the Three Kingdoms books and watched the show, so my knowledge of the events is fairly solid.**

 **SilentNinja: I'm glad you like reading the story, and an empowered Liu Bei plus an already existing Han Emperor would be intrigue chaos.**

 **Alphawave: I'm glad you enjoy it, and my goal is to stretch how far one Liu Xuande can affect the Three Kingdoms. Even without modification to the story, it's truly incredible that a former matweaver could style himself into an emperor, control half of China within his lifetime, and be immortalized through popular culture even 1800 years after his death.**

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 **力 - Power, Strength, Ability, Effort.**

 **Random Fact: Sima Zhao and Sima Shi nearly starved themselves to death in protest of an action Sima Yi took against their mother.**

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"Fear the General of Heaven! Fear the General of Heaven! Fear Lord Zhang Jiao and his eternal servants!" The Yellow Turban horde of sixty thousand approached, some walking, some running, others talking with friends or comrades. The majority screamed out a chant to their lord, and every Yellow Turban looked different, but one thing was clear – harsh times and extended warfare had left marks on an army that was once a bunch of peasants. They looked like wolves, thirsting for a new order they would carve their way into.

By comparison, Liu Xuande's army was silent. Even the commander himself was eerily quiet, eyes boring into the Yellow Turbans, twin swords loosely gripped in his hands. No, Liu Bei was not afraid of the Yellow Turbans, but if the enemy wanted to use noise, he would use silence to counter them. Once the army of his foes arrived, Liu Bei noticed one who looked much different from the rest, who bore the stylings of a great general. Xuande walked out of his battle lines to the shock of his troops, and dismounted.

"Who are you, general of the Turbans? Are you or are you not Zhang Mancheng?" The man shook his head and approached, dismounting as well.

"My name is Deng Mao, champion of Cheng Yuanzhi! I am the vanguard commander for this battle! State _your_ name, commander! I don't recognize you at all!" Liu Bei smiled. Oh, how nice anonymity was. No one could say anything bad about him until he got famous enough to be heard…

"My name is Liu Bei, styled Xuande. We are the troops who stop your advance onto General Zhu Jun's army. Tell me, Deng Mao, how many imperial generals have you fought in single combat?" Deng Mao laughed.

"Tell _me_ , Xuande, how many generals have you fought in single combat? I wasn't aware that fighting alone was a sound tactic anymore?" Liu Bei chuckled.

"How could you be Yuanzhi's champion if you've never proven your individual prowess? By simply taking advantage of the chaos you've proven yourself more than a wild beast, but not by much!" Deng Mao pulled out a spear and shield, and whacked the point of the weapon on his shield, creating a loud banging, which his troops copied.

"If a general who will never be remembered beyond this battle is willing to die to my hand, so be it. Come. Face me, Liu Bei…" With that, the two generals approached each other at a slow walk while their armies watched. Liu Bei's swords hung loosely at his side, and his helmet was removed. Deng Mao on the other hand, kept his full armor on, and kept his shield and spear in a combat-ready position, as if he was expecting an ambush or a hail of arrows.

As they got closer and closer, their paces gradually increased. Liu Bei put his helmet on and tightened the grip on his swords, but didn't raise them quite yet. Deng Mao turned around his spear, so that the point was close to the ground, as the two opposing generals gradually went from a slow walk to a brisk one, to a light jog, and finally a sprint as they roared their fury out.

The two fought like their lives would end regardless of who won. Deng Mao's spear went from stabs to large slashes quite fluidly, and his shield blocked many of Xuande's strikes. Liu Bei, on the other hand, used his two swords efficiently, and struck numerous dents in Mao's shield. The fighting seemed even until, with an unexpected motion, Deng Mao's spear-point caught Liu Bei's helmet and took it off his head, and charged forward with his shield in hand, knocking Xuande to the ground. Deng Mao then pointed his spear with the former Shu emperor's helmet on it, before speaking once more.

"Your head will be reunited with your helmet soon, but only in the confines of my spearpoint. Your life ends today, you pathetic dog of the Han!" He charged forward, but not before Liu Bei quickly slashed at the man's ankles, and he roared in pain, backing off.

"You may dream of destroying the dynasty my ancestors made, but I will not allow that to be a reality! Remember that, Deng Mao! Liu Bei then charged forward with no fear or hesitation, jumping and allowing his two swords to spin like a helicopter's blades. When Liu Bei saw an opening, he remembered a move he made for decimating an enemy.

Holding his swords in a cross position, Liu Bei looked right into the eyes of Deng Mao, who showed slight signs of fear.

"My time is NOW!" With that, Liu Xuande slashed his way through several pieces of Deng Mao's armor, but didn't strike any skin yet. Before he could appropriately exploit that though, Liu Bei noticed Deng Mao's shield approaching, too fast! He was knocked back again, but felt slight tiredness, amidst happiness that Deng Mao was now retreating, using two soldiers to support his weight.

"No matter how many times you try to attack, Liu Xuande will defend for the Han!" Liu Bei looked at the yellow-clad enemies, and knew what was about to happen. Walking back to his lines, still without a helmet, he held his two swords up.

"The Yellow Turbans will _not_ win today!" As he said that, the horde came to its senses and charged with the force of a huge ram. As they approached, Liu Bei got slightly behind the first rank and whispered some brief orders, which his soldiers spread to each other. The lightly armed Yellow Turbans were close when Liu Bei's tactic played out. Each soldier put his full weight on his tower shield, as the next two ranks pushed the front slightly.

The Turbans smashed into his front rank, and were shocked to find it holding back their weight.

"Now is the time! Push back!" Liu Bei commanded his troops as he cut into the lightly armed rebels. The heavily armed spearmen of Liu Bei's first two or three ranks stabbed the lightly armed soldiers of Deng Mao, until the area in front of Xuande's ranks was strewn with corpses. As lightly armed soldiers came to drag back the corpses of their fallen, Liu Bei and his troops stared at them like hawks, and after they retreated, the horde was back. This time, Liu had a new tactic. He commanded the first rank to the same thing they did before, but commanded the second rank of troops to use their spears and stab the front ranks of the enemy, and make the rebels trip over each other.

As the Turbans approached, Liu Bei once again told his men to brace for impact. As the horde smashed into his men, the fighting continued much like it had the first time around, only the number of Yellow Turbans slain increased dramatically. Once again, a whole line of bodies emerged, and the Yellow Turbans sent out scouts to move the corpses back for burial. They didn't engage the volunteer troops for the rest of the day. As nightfall approached, Liu Bei moved his troops back to the camp, and observed the day's stats.

At least a thousand Turbans had perished, with many more injured. As for Liu, he had lost some of his forces on the left flank, about one hundred, with half being heavy infantry, the rest, panicked light-armed troops unfortunate enough to perish. At the very least, there were a few heavily armored Turbans who had fell, and the heavy armor of his own troops could be reused, as morbid as that seemed. Oh well, at least he had enough reserve troops to fill the gap, and enough heavy equipment to rearm his troops for the next day.

In the camp itself, morale was very low, following the engagement. The front-line troops seemed especially disheartened by how much blood had been shed. Although they weren't exactly peace-advocating people, none of them were professional soldiers either, and didn't feel that they were ready.

Sitting around a fire with Jian Yong and the young man, who seemed an honorary retainer at this point, the three talked about their days.

"My Lord, I was on the left flank of the troops, and the lack of a figure of authority caused some confusion. If we don't have someone there to rally and command the troops properly, there could be very heavy casualties next time. The troops on the left flank are already disheartened enough that so many of their comrades died…" Liu Bei nodded and gave his order.

"Jian Yong, when food is consumed tonight, tell the troops that those on the left flank are going to switch positions completely. Those in heavy armor will give it to light armored troops, and vice versa. The new heavily armored troops will take the front line tomorrow, and the reserve troops here at camp will switch out with anyone who doesn't have the will to fight our next engagement. In addition, I will be going to the left flank instead of the right tomorrow, just to make sure that side is secure." The young man seemed surprised by Xuande's course of action, but gave out the orders as needed.

The next day, Liu Xuande's army gathered up in the same formation as before. Shielded and heavily armored spearmen clamored around the front, while the ranks behind prepared themselves for being the next frontline. The commander himself stood at the far left, almost against the wall of the pass itself, twin swords exposed and helmet still missing.

Rather than having a weaker left than right, Liu Bei made sure that his left flank was as strong as it could possibly be – the densest formation of spear-wielding infantry in the battle were held there, along with the leader, an exceptional fighter in his own right.

As the sun rose more than halfway, the horde of Turbans was visible. Deng Mao and another general stood up in the front, the unnamed general facing Liu Bei on his left, Deng Mao facing the right side of his army. Liu Bei ascended his horse and slowly made his way towards the center of the pass once again.

"My Lord, this is the general of the Han scum, Liu Bei!" The new general looked up and down Liu Bei, noting his lack of helmet and unusual choice of weaponry. Deng Mao still held a spear and shield, and Cheng Yuanzhi held a spear as well, though it was longer and the point on the end looked heavier than his champion's counterpart. Cheng Yuanzhi had a medium length beard, and he stroked it as he observed Xuande.

"Mao, don't let this dog of the Han displease you. Between the two of us he will be dealt with once and for all." With that, the two generals went back and started rousing up the Turban horde. Before long, a chant rose from within the fanatic rabble of Xuande's foes.

"Long live the General of Heaven! Death to the Han! Long live the Servants of Heaven! Death to Liu Bei!" With that, a mighty roar sprung up from within Liu Bei's army as the volunteer troop settled itself in for battle.

However, an unexpected element had shown itself on the battlefield. About one hundred horsemen with heavy armor and long spears were charging at Liu Bei's right flank. Xuande blanched – his soldiers were trained for fighting each other, not dealing with charges… This could provide a huge issue.

"My Lord, I'll make sure they hold." The young man, still lightly armed with little more than a shortsword, made his way across the line to rally the right flank. Liu Bei wasn't happy with this development, but at least someone smart was going over to rally them. Before long, the infantry charged as well.

As Liu Bei looked around, he saw the young retainer barking out orders to the men like a commander, and held his sword up to the sky, as the ranks started picking off the horsemen one at a time, until they were mostly gone.

Unfortunately, the infantry were close, and before the lines could reform, a strong wedge of heavily armed spearmen smashed into Liu Bei's right flank. The left flank, however, was holding strong, and winning against the Turbans. Even though larger numbers of infantry were on the left than the right, the left wing under Liu Bei kept high morale, and the commander himself often sallied from the front ranks, slashing enemies to pieces with his twin blades before retreating behind his men once again.

"My Lord." A soldier looked over at Liu Xuande, bloody and tired-looking. "The men are on the verge of breaking, the formation is in deep trouble!" Liu Bei then told the soldiers on the left to keep up the good work and followed the private towards the right. Before long, Liu and two dozen other fighers had cut their way into the Yellow Turbans and hacked them to pieces, but were eventually being surrounded, and cut down one at a time, until it was only Liu and half a dozen left.

"Save Liu Bei! Save Liu Bei!" The Turbans were shaking their heads in confusion. A force from the far right side of Liu Bei's formation seemed to be charging in.

"Reinforce! Reinforce!" Now soldiers from behind Liu's formation were charging? But whom was charging at whom? Were his forces being helped or disintegrated? Then Xuande felt true fear once again. If enemies had managed to get this far, that meant that they had either totally broken through his forces… Or Jian Yong was dead.

As Liu continued to slash away at the enemies, he felt pain in his shoulder. A stab wound. He slashed wildly and took several more down, but not before feeling fatigue of battle. _Is this the end? Have I failed to save the Han before its real troubles began…?_ Liu Bei's mind wandered as the world slowed just a little bit. He could see Deng Mao approaching as well, spear at the ready.

"Don't give up yet, Liu Bei!" Five men slashed their way through the Turbans, and one of them smashed his weapon into Mao's shield, knocking him off the floor. Three men defended their general, and the fourth officer looked at the enemies and laughed.

"Don't mess with Han Yigong!" And smashed the ground, allowing soldiers to fly everywhere. Liu Bei looked at his savior, and felt great happiness at the face he was greeted with.

"Sun Wentai has come to help your forces!"

 **I've already given most of the style names in this chapter e/c Yigong, which is Han Dang's, if that wasn't apparent.**

 **So. Thoughts on this development? What do you all think will happen with Sun Jian's relations with Liu Bei? What would you _like_ to see?**

 **Tell me :)**

 **~KingsOfSarutobi**


	5. Chapter 5: Tiger of Jiangdong

**Hey all, KingsOfSarutobi here - Sorry I took so long to upload this chapter, I hope the wait will prove itself worth the time required to complete it.**

 **But first, I believe I have some reviews to reply to.**

 **Alphawave: I believe Sun Jian and Liu Bei definitely had the potential to be very good friends, if not quite close acquaintances. Shangxiang is described as being in the blossom of her youth when she was married to Liu Bei in ~209, which would place her birth around... 191 AD if memory serves? I think things would be hella awkward.**

 **Chengong91: I agree. I hope Jian Yong doesn't die as well :D**

 **SkullKat90210: Sun Jian is a pretty amazing mofo, don't you think？ I personally really like military strategy, and feel that a different take on Liu Bei's rise to prominence was a nice turn for this story to go. The so-called 'other guy' could refer to the young man (Whose name is revealed in this chapter), or Jian Yong. Either way, the three of them are important. As for Sun Jian, he took part in the siege against Zhang Bao, and was a dominant force on the battlefield, but was relatively weak compared to the reputation he was given at the time. He still under thirty years of age, after all...**

 **Fabian B Shanks: I'm glad you like trivias. That option for preserving Guan Yu's life is definitely an option, but one thing to keep in mind was that giving up a province, especially one as key as Jing, would not be an easy choice. I'd argue that Shu was the weakest due to the fact that they had only one province, and though it _could_ regenerate troops well enough, couldn't keep up with the quantities and economic output of the other two, especially Wei, which had something like 4-7 provinces under its control.**

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 **友 - friend.**

 **Trivia: The 'Ma' family (Ma Chao, Ma Dai, Ma Teng, etc.)'s name means horse. At times, Cao Cao would taunt Ma Chao by calling him a 'little colt' or a pony, or something like that.**

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"General Sun, what brings you here?" Sun Jian looked at his past… former… future…? friend, smiling as he pointed his sword towards the rebel horde.

"Even with just a thousand men under my command, we will do everything in our power to smash the Turbans. General Zhu Jun mentioned there was a small force of volunteers stationed here, holding against a turban horde, and when he mentioned that the force was going to be smashed without reinforcements, I felt the need to step in. You don't look like a volunteer captain though." Liu Bei stood up, Sun Jian helping him as Huang Gai, Cheng Pu, Zu Mao, and Han Dang showered the earth in Yellow Turban blood. Liu Bei bowed very low before picking up his swords and preparing to charge into the fray with the Tiger of Jiangdong behind him.

"I may be a humble captain of a volunteer unit, but through me runs the blood of the Supreme Ancestor, Liu Bang, just as you hold the regality of a king, descendant of Sun Tzu…" The Tiger laughed as the two of them charged back in.

"My Lord, I'm sorry I was late. Were it not for the reinforcements, you surely would have perished, and I would be to blame." The young retainer bowed low, his light armor slashed in several places, and several light slash marks dotting his being.

"I am fine, Xiaoge*. You yourself are wounded though, are you alright?" The man nodded as he bowed to Sun Jian as well. The Tiger looked at the young man with interest.

"You also bear a greater visage than that of a mere soldier. What is your name?" The man held his face low and responded clearly and concisely.

"My family name is Shan, given name Fu, styled Yuanzhi. I am a mere swordsman and retainer fit for little more than useless carnage." Liu Bei's surprise was masked, and that brief moment of shock allowed the man to slice through many more enemies of his lord, as the Tiger of Jiangdong and future Shu Emperor followed him into battle once more.

At the end of the day, Liu Bei looked upon the small pass where thousands fought and died. Ordering his troops back to their tents and offering all spare tents and land to Sun Wentai, Liu Bei sat down in his tent and wept. Almost a thousand men had been lost. Even Sun Jian's small army coming to help didn't swing the fight back in Liu's favor. Hearing that Sun Jian requested to speak with him, Liu Xuande wiped off his eyes, heated up some wine, and invited Jian Yong and Shan Fu to join him for Jian's arrival. As the Tiger approached, he first bowed deeply to Liu Bei and sat down in the same humble fashion as the other three men, not a hint of complaint on his face.

"General Liu, why do you not have a proper center of command rather than a tent?" Liu Bei looked over at Sun Wentai and blinked before formulating a response.

"As only a minor captain, I don't need much, and if I go through the same trials as my men, they gain faith in me, and I become stronger through them." Sun Jian nodded before putting a finger on his chin.

"What if my men and I built you one, given that you've kept our rear flank safe against odds much more difficult than General Zhu Jun's? You would certainly deserve it more than him, and his camp is both prestigious and orderly." Liu Bei thought very carefully on this one. Truth be told, as much as he wanted to save Sun Jian and become best buddies with him, Xuande saw those members of the Sun family he didn't want to see, never mind on the father of those two..!

"If you truly say that is okay. Perhaps two of your officers could help you organize men for the building of a proper camp while the other two assist for training our combined forces?" Sun Jian nodded but made sure to add one final set of words to the agreement.

"I would greatly appreciate that, but only if we could get Master Jian Yong to help with the construction, and that Xiaoge Yuanzhi to help with the training of the men." Liu Bei nodded.

"I was planning on having them do the same duties you suggested, General Sun. Do you have any last requests?" Sun Jian nodded.

"Two things, one of them important, the other fairly small. The smaller issue is that food and water supplies may be tough to manage with the movement to reinforce this position. As such, I would like to request some supplies, as much as it pains me to beg from someone who already received too little from General Zhu." Liu Bei nodded and smiled, reassuring his old friend that supplies would meet him before long, and that Jian Yong would request for some extra supplies while giving tales of the 'Tiger of Jiangdong's prowess. While Xuande was happy to do that, he was sweating bullets inside as he fretted – if supplies, the main trouble zone of his army was the small concern, what could the large one be?

"The larger request is fairly simple. When this war is over, whether we continue marching the same paths or different, please stay alive. Men of character are rare in this troubled time, never mind generals with good character. One day, when the chaos dims down and your men are in the land of Yuan Shu, please do not hesitate to find my commandery of Changsha. I can imagine by the time I get home, my little sons Ce and Quan will be overjoyed to meet one of the heroes of the stories I'm sure to tell them." Liu Bei laughed, closing his eyes to prevent Wentai from seeing the fury in his eyes at the name 'Quan'.

"Fine, fine, I'll be sure to show up before long." With that, Xuande and the Tiger of Jiangdong walked out of the tent, the Sun military genius gathering his soldiers and telling them their plan. Returning to his own tent and preparing to sleep, Liu Bei looked out at the night and saw a swarm of clouds gathering above the Yellow Turban camp, lightning arcing between them. Too tired to think about what that could mean, Liu Bei rolled over and slept peacefully, his entire camp unaware of what would confront them next morning.

As the sun rose the next day, red light spilled onto the clouds above as Liu Bei stared at the burning sunrise. Noting that it wasn't too cold outside, he donned light riding gear and found Shan Fu looking towards the same disturbing daylight. His young retainer-officer sat on a horse near the edge of the camp, mouth turned downwards ever so slightly. Giving respect to his lord as he strode up, also mounted, he followed his lord's gaze towards the sun once more.

"What do you think it means, Yuanzhi?" The man put one hand through his short hair, nervously looking ahead.

"The skies themselves are coated in blood, meaning that many have died, or are going to die." Liu Bei's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Our small force wouldn't suffice, and the sunrise is towards the Yellow Turbans' camp… Do you think our adversaries have been defeated by an army of another's designs?" Shan Fu drew his sword and pointed it towards the end of the pass.

"My Lord, if just us two go, we could scout our enemies' camp with minimal trouble." Approving via nod, Liu Bei and Shan Fu charged forward, arriving at the point where the bottleneck of the pass opened up into a wide plain. Looking down a hill onto said plain, Liu Bei was sickened as what he saw was too close to what he had seen in his last battle.

Corpses were strewn across the ground as if a god had cleaved through an army altogether. A variety of weapon marks were on the Yellow Turban corpses, from blades, to spears, to a strange blunted impaling, the numbers of corpses in the tens of thousands. As soon as Liu Bei saw this, he remembered the carnage at that final, bloody battle against the Sun bastard – bodies thrown on the ground without a rhyme or reason to it, the site of a crushing defeat. As Liu Bei turned away from the sight of the bodies, he looked towards Shan Fu, whose visage held a light tint of green…

"My Lord, we should leave. The Turban force has been eliminated, and as we have a natural height advantage, we can move our camp forward and build a more proper one. If we do so, we can also take up Sun Wentai's offer of building a proper center of command for our base." Liu Bei nodded, and already was formulating plans of using his advance to force Zhu Jun to send forward more troops and supplies to hold a key choke point, or simply joining his main force and benefiting from their supplies. As they returned to camp, the two found Jian Yong standing diligently, waiting for them.

"Lord Liu, Sun Jian awoke recently, and he, along with generals Han, Zu, Huang, and Cheng, wish to talk with you. They are waiting near your quarters, on the grounds that they do not want to intrude on your personal lodgings while you are away." Liu Xuande laughed at the plain but refreshing honesty and honor of Sun Jian, as the three leaders of the volunteer troop moved further into camp, discussing everything from the possibility of looting the Yellow Turbans to getting more supplies from Zhu Jun.

"General Liu, I assume you heard something last night as well?" Sun Jian bowed respectfully as Liu Bei did the same, the latter shaking his head.

"Not quite, but my young officer Shan Fu saw a bad omen this morning and the two of us scouted it out. Something demonic slew everything in that camp, General. I don't know what it is, but I'm hoping it's a supporter of the Han." Wentai nodded as the four officers behind him shuffled awkwardly.

"Ah, General, these four bear the visages of great heroes. May I know their names?" Sun Jian stood to the right of his officers and pointed at them one by one.

"General Liu, these four are my finest officers: Huang Gai, Cheng Pu, Zu Mao, and Han Dang." In return, Liu Bei stood to the side of his two officers, introducing them. As the seven sat down, Liu Bei told Sun Jian of his plan to move up the camp to a better choke point.

"This way, although the pass is wider, we can keep them from entering altogether, keep our combined forces closer to fortifications, and deliver news of victory to Zhu Jun, prompting him to either send reinforcements or more supplies for a combined advance." Sun Jian nodded before adding his own piece to the idea.

"I agree, but I imagine the Turbans will wonder where their missing force has gone, and likely send another. We should prepare our men and make sure reinforcements arrive immediately." Liu Bei nodded as the two told their soldiers to pack up camp. The combined armies of twenty-five hundred under Liu Bei and one thousand under Sun Jian moved quickly, setting up a new camp with two temporary residences, courtesy of Sun Jian. The first, the larger one, was for Liu Bei, who humbly requested for Sun to take the larger one. After the latter refused, Xuande set up his command center there, the smaller residence for Sun Jian and his four generals, who he hailed as his "four brothers".

As the army was trained by Shan Fu and Xuande, Wentai sent scouts along with Zu Mao to learn more about the causes of death of the Yellow Turban horde. Cheng Pu was given the rank of "General of the Front", and formed a small but elite vanguard unit. In addition, Huang Gai and Jian Yong were sent to local towns and commanderies to recruit men for the army, meanwhile Han Dang was sent to Zhu Jun to report the victory of the Sun-Liu forces, requesting aid as soon as possible. While this was going on, Sun Jian personally inspected the camp for any weaknesses, a team of noncombatants behind him to do the construction or destruction of anything that could prove useless to the camp.

Three days later, the eight met again.

"Our soldiers should all be well-enough trained to act defensively in a battle situation, focusing on maintaining order rather than chasing down fleeing enemies, that is unless they're totally sure it's a real rout." Sun Jian nodded at Shan Fu's remark and looked at Zu Mao.

"Generals Liu and Sun, here's what we found out; the soldiers were all killed by one of three types of weapons. The first is a spear, the second, a blade, the third, a weapon with two points very close together, meant to be either thrusted, or slashed, likely having a serrated edge. Aside from that, we looted hundreds of full sets of armor, a few battered sets, weapons, lots of food, and standards, but the generals were gone. They likely escaped the carnage. The enemy is also likely to have assaulted the Turbans from three sides, as the bodies would indicate that three forces attacked at the same time." Liu Bei murmured his thoughts.

"No ranged weapons, huh?" Sun Jian and Zu Mao both nodded. They looked at Cheng Pu.

"Our unit is ready to march whenever the time is nigh, each man possessing large quantities of strength, high stamina, a good weapon, and good armor. If we won't be using a vanguard unit anytime soon, I suggest we keep it as a front-line unit to hold, along with the best soldiers under Xuande and Yuanzhi." Wentai nodded as Xuande turned to Jian Yong and Huang Gai.

"Each of us only had three days and limited resources, so we brought back about three-hundred men; two hundred for General Liu, one hundred for yourself, Lord Sun." Xuande nodded his thanks to Gongfu, Wentai giving a grunt of appreciation.

"Everyone has had great success except for myself, Lord Sun, General Liu. Zhu Jun laughed when told of our requests and says that it is useless to provide soldiers like us anything if we could only advance as far as we did. On the contrary, he requested we speed up our works and then help him with his battle, which has been stuck in a stalemate for several weeks." Jian snorted.

"The man who can't advance an inch is berating an army who beat a larger one and advanced already? What arrogance, what an imbecile!" Xuande calmed down his good friend as Jian Yong chipped in his advice.

"The Turbans are likely closing in on our position very soon. We should make sure to ration out supplies or send men with finances to buy more, such that our men won't be hungry in the middle of battle, or ill-rested. In addition, we should make sure training is light enough for a full recovery on the day before the battle. If not, our already outnumbered men will fatigue quickly before the onslaught, no matter how many Turbans are killed." Sun Jian turned to Zu Mao.

"Mao, how many men do you think the Turbans may bring with them?" The general closed his eyes and hummed before thinking.

"An army of sixty-thousand perished in that camp, I can imagine the Turbans must be sending forces to account for all five forces that brought its destruction, us being two. I would expect… At least three-hundred thousand, one army the size of Cheng Yuanzhi's for each little army." Xuande and the other generals blanched, as Sun Jian's eyebrows furrowed and Shan Fu nodded sadly, coming to the same conclusion.

"So it's settled then. Train our men to perfection and keep preparing. Master Jian Yong, Brother Gongfu, please keep recruiting men and buying supplies. We need everything we can to prepare for the monstrosity known as the Yellow Turbans." The eight men clunked their glasses together and laughed once more.

"Oh, Xuande, I was wondering if you had any ideas on how to fix up the camp." The former Shu Emperor's eyebrow rose. Fix the camp?

"What's wrong with it, my good brother?" Jian led Xuande outside the walls, showing him the bricks and timber still unsteady, many weapons would break them. Looking at the sky and seeing a storm, Xuande laughed as he was reminded of good ol' Ma Chao, Ma Mengqi.

"Wentai, have your men pour large amounts of water over the fortress every night and let it stay there. The morning will give us a true fortress." Looking with confusion, Wentai ordered his men to pour water over all of the walls and towers as requested.

Several days later at high noon, a large shuffling of bodies was heard, as hundreds of thousands of feet, boots, sandals, hooves, and wagon wheels smashed into the ground.

"Fear the General of the Land! Fear the General of the Land! Fear Zhang Bao!" Liu Bei looked over the walls, joining his friend Wentai as they observed the enemy marching forward, Deng Mao and Cheng Yuanzhi in the front. Beside them were generals Liu Bei remembered very little about; Yan Zheng, Gao Sheng, Sun Zhong, Han Zhong, and Zhao Hong. In the center of all seven was Zhang Bao, the younger brother of Zhang Jiao.

"Looks like they sent one of the leaders in person, General Liu. What do you think our plan of action should be?" Xuande gestured to the walls, all frozen with several layers of ice from nightly watering and cold weather.

"The enemy is in high spirits, chanting and roaring, and the enemy generals, especially generals Cheng Yuanzhi and Deng Mao, will be likely to act recklessly to avenge their defeats further in the pass, and avenge their army as a whole. If we wait them out and wait for them to make the first move, we can keep countering their moves as they come along until an opening arrives." Jian looked fully impressed with Liu Xuande's planning and strategic analysis, and barked out orders to his generals.

"Generals Zu and Huang, keep a firm command on the men at the walls. Use any and all projectile weapons to force the enemy away. General Han, prepare a group to leave tonight and request reinforcements. Get anyone, I don't care if it's He Jin, Dong Zhuo, Yuan Shao, hell, even Liu Biao would be a welcome help at this point. General Cheng, prepare water to cover the walls in another layer of ice." Liu Bei took note of his officers and gave his own orders.

"Jian Yong, keep the noncombatants safe, and make sure the wounded are treated. Shan Fu, prepare a small force of elites who could break a wall of steel if they wanted." The two bowed, moving towards their positions as needed.

That night, two armed forces camped on the cliffs, the small armies knowing of each other's presence by their campfires as they looked down on Liu Bei and Sun Jian's fortress.

The leader of the force on the left spoke to a scout from the force on the right.

"My general wishes for you and your men to hold until the Sun-Liu forces and Yellow Turbans fight, then we will enter the fray, alongside our ace in the hole." The man looked towards the scout and asked his own question.

"What are the states of both forces?"

"The Imperial force in this garrison is holding firm and denying combat, but the Yellow Turbans have already started to send out forces in the night. Generals Zhao Hong, Han Zhong, and Gao Sheng have been sent out already, with Cheng Yuanzhi and Deng Mao preparing to engage the Han forces head-on. It's unclear who will win." The man laughed as he gripped his weapon, pointing it down at the fields which would soon be dyed red.

"It's about time a real battle broke out! This'll be fun!" With that, the general of the force on the left laughed and drunk a few cups of wine before sending off the scout with a few skins of the nice alcohol for his fellow force on the other cliff.

 **The newest pieces to the battlefield are here! Tell me what you think about the relations between the Sun-Liu generals.**

 ***Xiaoge roughly means Young Man, or Young Lad. The female counterpart, Xiaojie, is used to address young women.**

 **Style Names:**

 **Yuanzhi – Shan Fu's style name. Not much to say about him. Yet.**


	6. Chapter 6: Desparate Defense

**Junior year of highschool screws over my upload times, and I rewrote this chapter about a dozen times. I think it turned out better than the original draft, but who the hell knows, right?**

 **Replies:  
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 **Chengong91: Someone knows his Three Kingdoms very well, props to you! If you know that secret, you probably know how that character didn't become a scholar, but was a vigilante swordsman for a while. We never know where he came from or what he did, eh?**

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 **侵 - to encroach upon, to raid, to invade.**

 **Trivia: Zhou Yu was an honorary Sun family member - Sun Ce honored him as a younger brother, Sun Quan honored him as an older one, and Lady Wu (Ce and Quan's mother), regarded him as a son.**

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"The Turbans are assaulting!" That was all the warning Liu Bei and Sun Jian received. Quickly scrambling to their feet, they watched as generals Huang Gai, Zu Mao, Cheng Pu, and Shan Fu all charged atop the walls, commanding men as needed.

As the two commanders moved atop the walls with their officers, they observed the hellish onslaught. Siege ramps, ladders, and towers were being moved up to the walls of the fort as arrows, javelins, and crossbow bolts smashed into the walls, forcing the Imperial forces to take a defensive. Liu Bei felt the nonexistent lines on his face deepen as he watched generals Deng Mao and Cheng Yuanzhi command their men to attack, zealous cries about Zhang Bao increasing as the fighting went on. Taking his twin swords and watching Sun Jian pick up his own weapon, the two got to work, joining their officers.

Assessing the situation, Sun Jian took command of the main wall as Liu Bei ran to Han Dang, who was about to set out.

"General Han, I believe I know a way to turn this situation around." Yigong turned his attention to Liu Bei sharply.

"There is a chance of enemies trying to encircle our camp. Some of the enemy banners from yesterday are missing. Gather a small force and escape quickly before finding Jingzhou's Liu Biao, a commander under Huangfu Song. Find him and request reinforcements. If not there, go find Xuzhou's Tao Qian. If not either of those, find a man who only has few commanders but ambitions as wide as the stars – a minor commander under He Jin named Cao Cao, Cao Mengde. Find him and bring him here, but only if worst comes to worst." Han Dang bowed to Liu Bei before setting out with a group of fighters on swift mounts.

Returning to the front lines, Liu Bei placed on his helmet and left the fort, slashing at the weaker siege equipment before retreating atop the walls.

"Xuande, well done. Many turbans have no doubt perished in the fighting from your efforts." Thanking Huang Gai, Liu Bei returned to the walls, shouting words of encouragement. Before long, the Turbans fell back and Deng Mao, Cheng Yuanzhi, and two other men stood before the front lines. Eyes narrowing, Liu Bei turned to Sun Jian, who nodded and gave out a command;

"Xuande, Yuanzhi, Gongfu, Demou. Please engage the enemy commanders." Nodding, the four men left the gates, Liu Bei's twin swords sparkling, Shan Fu wearing light armor, holding a thin sword. Huang Gai had an iron whip with a small sword in his other hand, and Cheng Pu held a large lance with which he had already stained red with Turban blood.

"Enemy generals, state your names!" The two mystery men stood before the front lines, one with the facial features of the Qiang tribesmen, the other, a man who wielded a large broadsword with ease.

"I am Ma Teng, styled Shoucheng! I will smash all of you to bring liberty to my people!" Liu Bei's eyes widened. Ma Teng hadn't been a Turban the last time around, had he?

"I can see I'm up against heroes of our time. Nevertheless, I must fight until I can find my purpose. I am merely known as Zhou Cang." Liu Bei hid a small smile. Ah, Zhou Cang… A man who was devoted to Yunchang until the very end. A war veteran who was content serving as a swordbearer rather than an ambitious general, but was good at commanding men in his own ways…

"Yuanzhi, could you fight Zhou Cang? I shall engage Shoucheng, and perhaps Demou and Gongfu could engage the other two?" The three men nodded and grunted, charging forward at their adversaries.

Ma Teng was as skilled a fighter as Xuande remembered. Wielding a long but thin blade with ease, his strikes were light and swift, wasting no momentum. This would be a fight to remember… As the two warriors slashed away, Liu Bei's heavier swords parrying the light strikes of Shoucheng, the generals conversed.

"You fight well, Ma Teng. Why do you serve evildoers like the Turbans? I could give you and your people grace and prosperity if you fight alongside the Han!" Ma Teng shook his head slowly.

"I wish your words could be true, Liu Bei, styled Xuande. Regardless, I am little more than a commoner, and even should the Emperor listen to my petition, those damned eunuchs he surrounds himself with would shut out my request. Even the inspector of Xiliang, Dong Zhuo, treats us poorly and listens to none of our pleas." Liu Bei nodded grimly.

"Well, should the both of us survive this war, perhaps we can find peace for the people of Xiliang." Ma Teng laughed.

"You're a strange one, Xuande. I think I'll enjoy this fight all the more…" Meanwhile, Shan Fu, who had observed his lord's smile towards Zhou Cang, engaged his opponent warily.

"Please hold nothing back, General. It is a disgrace that you wouldn't give your best effort against me in the heat of battle." Shan Fu kept a steely expression but did as Zhou Cang requested, amping up the speed of his attacks until the man was on the verge of being overwhelmed. With one quick, well-timed slash more, he had slashed through the handle of the huge broadsword, leaving Zhou Cang holding nothing more than a handle. Placing a sword to the throat of Cang, Shan Yuanzhi looked him over, notably at the steely expression he wielded.

"I have been defeated. Do with my life as you please." Shan Fu nodded and commanded Zhou Cang to follow him back to camp, sword pressed against the back of his head. The man obeyed, still seeming a bit… out of it. As if he had nothing to look forward to, or nothing good to remember back to. Oh well. At least Shan Fu knew that he had done his lord a great service by capturing a general.

Meanwhile, Deng Mao was fighting Huang Gai, spear and shield flashing in quick combat as he defended against the menacing combination of the wild whip and strong sword.

"Two of us may be little more than garbage, but Cheng Yuanzhi and myself will smash through the enemy ranks!" Laughing, Huang Gai smashed his adversary's armor some more, but felt a wound in his shoulder. Looking around, he saw Cheng Pu's weapon, which had failed to stop Cheng Yuanzhi's spear plunging into his shoulder. Retreating with Demou, Huang Gai ran back into the fort. As Liu Bei saw this and realized he was the only one left on the field, his eyes narrowed.

Looking up at the fort, he saw Wentai barking out orders to open the gates, yelling something about Xuande heading back inside. Looking at his three opponents, Liu Bei held his twin swords.

"If I were a normal man, I might consider retreat or surrender. However, for the sake of those who are with me now, for those who I must protect in faraway lands, I will stand here and fight to the death. Which one of you will taste the fury of the Han first?!" The two Turban leaders, Cheng and Deng, flew at Xuande in a rage, the three of them engaging in an orgy of steel and shouts. As Liu Bei continued, he noticed that Ma Teng was not engaging, instead dutifully holding his sword as he turned towards the back of his troops. Glancing, Xuande saw that the front ranks of the Turbans were in a mess, turning around, talking, looking back, and he could hear screams of death. As he looked behind him, Xuande saw Sun Jian once more, screaming about how a force with the "Zhao" banner was approaching from behind the camp, along with two others which were unreadable.

Zhao Hong was one of the missing Turbans, and now a Zhao banner was behind them, along with the horde of turbans in front… Shit. What had Xuande gotten himself into?

As he continued to fight desperately, Liu Bei caught the shoulder-piece of Cheng Yuanzhi and forced the man back, and slashed wildly at Deng Mao, cutting his face with both blades. Exhausted and sporting several deep cuts, Xuande collapsed to one knee, swords limply hanging from his arms. Coughing from the dust and feeling the burning heat of midday all over his body, Liu Bei had to wonder if he was truly ready to die. Looking towards the front, the former Shu Emperor saw Ma Teng dutifully waiting to engage in combat. As he looked towards the man of Xiliang, Liu Bei stood up, and tried desperately to fight, but only sustained several slashes, one of them being particularly deep.

Liu Bei wasn't ready for this. He really wasn't ready for a battle of this scale, not without the genius of Kongming, the might of Yide, Yunchang, Zilong, Hansheng, Mengqi…

"If Heaven desires me dead," Liu Bei whispered, "claim me. Your servant is spent." However, Liu Bei heard the chaos in the Turban ranks spilling forward, and opened his eyes slightly. There were two men leading companies of soldiers _through_ the Turban ranks through the flank, slashing at the rebels as they went.

As Liu Bei smiled and knew that the battle's impossible odds had changed at the nick of time at the cost of himself, he put his head down and closed his eyes. Perhaps his death was worth something.

Blacking out, Liu Bei dreamed of the battlefield. In his mind's eye, he saw Shan Fu and Sun Jian running towards him, bringing him back. As the view moved to the top of the fort, Liu Bei saw beings of ethereal matter. On the left, a huge bear of dull grey light roared, sound waves blasting the Turbans. On the right, a tiger of red and orange flames gave a slash, cutting through hundreds with only one sweep. In the middle, an azure dragon twisted its way through the turbans, lightning arcing from its body in skewed angles, scales, claws, and teeth slashing and gnashing the rebels into oblivion.

As the three beasts tore through their adversaries, they looked up at once and saw the sun falling. Rushing, the three beasts held it above the ground, but quavered, clearly lacking the sufficient backing to hold it for long. Then, a man much like Hou Yi of old legends grabbed a mighty bow and arrow, shooting arrows into the sun, knocking it up. Following this, a young horse, noble stag, and wild boar tore into the sun, pushing it up for long enough to give the three beasts below a rest. As the four new figures tired, a great gust of wind blew the sun far up into the air, as a burst of flame made the orb rise even higher.

Emboldened, the six animals and archer flew into the air, forcing the sun to rise back to its original position, with the mighty gust and flames supporting them. As the sun returned, a golden light shone towards Liu Bei's camp, and shone on the tent where Shan Fu and Sun Jian were sitting, tending to a wounded and unconscious Xuande. Upon seeing this light, the Dragon dove back down, curling itself protectively around Liu Bei's tent.

As Liu Bei woke up and blinked, he looked towards his left and saw Wentai and Yuanzhi sitting by him as a medic worked on his wounds.

"Friends, I'm sorry to have worried you with my reckless tendencies." Xuande had a bright smile and his heart felt light and content, brought on by an exhilarating dream, the likes of which he hadn't truly experienced since his ascension to King of Hanzhong.

"Xuande, you've kept us all worried! Even the generals of the armies who saved us have been hovering near your tent, waiting for your recovery! Even the young child who commands one hundred horsemen like a war veteran has been deeply concerned for you." Liu Bei blinked, euphoria giving way to confusion.

"But… I don't know who those generals are, never mind a child who commands like a veteran. Who are these men?" Sun Jian was about to speak, but Liu Bei heard roaring laughter from outside.

"General Yigong is truly a hero of our time – were it not for him, I wouldn't have been able to even do half of what I was able to accomplish this battle!" The voice of a young teen, barely on the road to becoming a man, spoke with sureness and happiness.

"Haha, doesn't this little tyke speak well and fight well? Just turned fourteen and you're already on the battlefield?"

"Don't mock him, General. When we meet Lord Liu, we should definitely talk to him about adding the young man to his forces." Liu Bei, though tired and sore from combat, felt his mind stop. Eyes opening beyond his sockets, the former Shu-Han emperor stood up, and after receiving a little bit of help from Yuanzhi, attempted to walk outside with a brisk pace, disregarding the medic's advice.

As he was stopped by Wentai once more, the fellow general laid him down on the bed, and spoke to him.

"Wentai, who on earth is talking about me outside?" Sun Jian looked outside and sighed.

"The three generals who helped us destroy the turbans. One of them wishes to join you, the other two wish to continue serving the Han independently, but say that your forces are the ones they will wish to join when that time has come."

"Whom is the general who wishes to join me?"

"He is a young man who fights like a dragon in a storm, slashing at enemies atop a swift steed." Bei looked blankly at Jian. Many generals fought with spears atop horses, and too many had been described as dragons or tigers. Tiger of Jiangdong, Five Tiger Generals, Rapid Tiger Camps, Guan Yu described himself as a tiger too… And for dragons, almost every ruler had been described as a 'dragon' by one person or another.

"Perhaps this young general could come in here, despite my weakened state?" Sun Wentai nodded and smiled, before bringing a young man of fourteen or fifteen in.

"General Sun, could you leave for just a minute? Myself and Lord Liu Bei have much to discuss." Wentai nodded before departing, wishing Xuande a swift recovery. The young general spoke up.

"I wish to join your forces, leading troops and saving the Han Dynasty from corruption." Xuande frowned, and looked at the young man as he raises his head. The instant the former Shu emperor saw the general, he lost his composition.

"You!"

"Your observations are correct, future Emperor of Shu Han."

 **I like it when people guess things, so I'll just leave the question of who the general is. Here's a couple hints; he's someone prominent in the Three Kingdoms, and his D.O.B. isn't in history books, so you have to think pretty hard about who this could be.**

 **Place your guesses in Reviews or PMs, whichever is more convenient :D.**

 **Note: Cheng Yuanzhi is a Yellow Turban general, Shan Yuanzhi is Liu Bei's officer. Two veeeery different people.**

 ***Dage means Eldest Brother.**

 **Style Names: Yuanzhi (Shan Fu's)**

 **Shouceng – Ma Teng's style name.**

 **Yigong – Han Dang's style name**

 **Mengde – Cao Cao's style name.**

 **Gongfu – Huang Gai's style name.**

 **Demou – Cheng Pu's style name.**

 **Hansheng – Huang Zhong's style name.**

 **Mengqi – Ma Chao's style name.**

 **Kongming – Zhuge Liang's style name.**

 **If anyone has any questions or requests, send em my way and I'll see what I can do about them. Don't forget to put forward your suspicions about who the general is!**

 **~KoS**


	7. Chapter 7: New Generals

**Jennifer Wilson:** **对啊！对啊！我觉得因为张飞一百七年生了，所以子龙可以生了一还是二年后了。对不起，我的汉语真不好。。。可是多谢，我刚才写了对的战。** **On my end, I literally approximated based on the fact that Liu Bei died of illness after about a year and a half of stress, depression, and anger, so if our Little Dragon was about eight or so years younger, and given his much more physical shape being a field general and lacking the deaths of two brothers but gaining the deaths of his former lord and two of his best generals plus a few HUNDRED THOUSAND troops… That could line up with his historical death date. I'm a little newbie, only been studying for… about five years or so? Thanks for the help, really appreciate it.**

 **ChenGong91: DOUBLE KILL. You enjoy seeing through my suspense, don't you?**

 **SkullKat90210: Historically, Ma Teng started his career as Yellow Turban, look at his Wikipedia page if you don't believe me on that. But maybe so… After all, we know at least two people have come back, eh?**

 **Guest (Assuming both reviews are the same person): You're correct, extremely so. That's why I post style names at the end of each chapter. If you think this is difficult, imagine reading the actual Three Kingdoms text. Guan Yu is never mentioned by that name – he's exclusively "Lord Guan", and Liu Bei is exclusively known as "Xuande". Titles dominate the texts. And yeah, if you go by those details it's pretty damn obvious.**

 **I'll try to upload this chapter quickly this time, and won't bug everyone with author's notes today. I already wrote a behemoth of a comment further up ^^^. One more thing; I've heard my characterization is rather weak right now, but bits and pieces of emotion will join in - this chapter itself has a lot, because... You'll find out? :D. Sorry if the emotional scenes aren't the best, I generally ignore them for a reason.**

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 **友 - Friend.**

 **Trivia: Cao Cao's father, Cao Song, was not a Cao clan member by blood, but was born a Xiahou and adopted into the Cao clan.**

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 **Happy Hunting, and hope you enjoy the read.**

"Future emperor of… What do you mean by future emperor?" The young man looked up at Xuande and laughed.

"I died, and suddenly I'm in the exact same world I grew up in, yet you haven't brought along Yunchang and Yide? Placing your forces with Sun Jian, someone who would become a friend of yours during the Campaign against Dong Zhuo? My Lord, forgive me for being blunt… But I think we both know what's going on." Zilong ended his voice on a crack, and looked up with tears and a smile of pure content.

"Zi… Zilong… You came back too?" The young man nodded and wept, his entire body shaking. Moved by emotion, Xuande forgot his injuries and the stresses of a moment ago and moved towards Zilong, placing his hands on the former Tiger General's shoulders. Internally, Xuande was moved beyond words, and couldn't even speak his mind or heart.

Zilong. ZILONG! One of the Five Tigers, the man who saved his infant heir, who treated him and his brothers well when entering the service of Gongsun Zan. Zilong, who ignored all of Yuan Shao's offers to join his forces and went out of his way to find Xuande, a man with only a few thousand troops and the little city of Gucheng. Zilong, who had stopped that little Sun brat from stealing Adou… Zilong, a true friend, a loyal general, a man of morality.

"Oh Heaven, how you have blessed your ignorant servant! Returning me, a foolish Imperial Scion to fix his mistakes, and returning a dragon to his battlefield! Truly, can the Han _not_ be revived by this turn of events?" Zilong wept harder and gripped his former lord, who he hadn't seen since his last days among the living…

"Emperor, why have Yide and Yunchang not joined your forces this time around?" Xuande looked away slightly embarrassed, but responded nonetheless.

"I can't risk losing my judgement again, Zilong. I can't risk losing twenty years' worth of army building on a plot for vengeance once more, and the only way to risk that they can't die is to ensure they aren't in my forces. When everything is said and done, I'll find them and promote them to high offices, but I can't risk losing my brothers again." Internally, Zilong wondered if at this point, his lord could even risk losing _him_ , given the lack of officers in his service. As the two old friends sat in silence, Liu Bei got some water and drunk it in large quantities, quenching his thirst – dehydration, heavy wounds, and large emotional outpouring made the First Emperor of Shu quite parched.

"My Lord, I don't know if General Sun told you, but we captured two enemy generals, both of whom I recognize." Liu Bei looked up at Zilong and raised an eyebrow, gesturing for him to continue.

"Ma Teng, styled Shoucheng, who with Han Sui, became the warlord of Xiliang. The second is Yunchang's old swordbearer, the former bandit Zhou Cang." Liu Bei's eyes widened as a soft smile came to his face.

"Zilong, this is great indeed. If you could, please ask whoever is guarding them to allow you to bring Zhou Cang in." Zhao Yun nodded and bowed, returning a minute later with a bound Zhou Cang.

"Zhou Cang, why did you become a Yellow Turban?" Cang responded honestly.

"My hometown was ruled by Zhang Bao, brother of Zhang Jiao, leader of the Yellow Turbans. As a citizen of his town, I was recruited into his army. Later, I found that Bao's troops had slain many civilians suspected of loving the Han. I truly feel that there is no good lord left in this world – the Emperor's might is suffocated by evil Eunuchs, the nobility believes in nothing more than their own estates and reputation, those Imperial forces who fight the Turbans only desire glory, and the Yellow Turbans slay innocents by the hundreds." Liu Bei's eyes widened as he took in the man who had so clearly stated the issues of the world.

"What would you have me do to you, Zhou Cang?" Cang looked up at Xuande, eyes steely.

"A captured general has no right to decide his own fate. If execution for my crimes is your judgement, so be it. If not, so be it." Liu Bei and Zilong took in Zhou Cang's demeanor. He still sat straight and dignified, despite being in bonds, and was willing to face death head-on, with no regrets.

"Zhou Cang, you may die." Cang's head lowered.

"But only once we restore the world's order. Zhou Cang, join my volunteer forces to restore glory to the Han Dynasty." The man who was once Guan Yu's swordbearer looked up in shock. A volunteer force? Recruiting a former Yellow Turban to restore peace to the world? This Liu Bei… Was different than what he expected.

"Zhao Yun." The former Tiger General kneeled.

"Present!"

"Designate a space for the officers in our army for rest. For now, it will only be occupied by yourself, Jian Yong, Shan Fu, and Zhou Cang. Once you have finished and set everything up, I want you and Shan Fu to bring in Ma Teng sometime tomorrow, we have much to discuss." Zilong nodded, pulling up his sword and slashing the bonds on Zhou Cang. The latter kowtowed to Xuande and the two generals left. In his tent, Xuande closed his eyes and let his mind's gears whir in anticipation of the battles to come. Who should he ally with? How should he prepare his forces to compensate for Yunchang and Yide's nonpresence?

Zilong, as he had already stated, would have to be a clear part of his army, likely just as important as Zhou Yu was to the Southland, or Lu Bu to Dong Zhuo, as horrible of a comparison that could be. Who were the other generals he needed to find, and quickly?

Huang Zhong and Ma Chao were easy picks, as was Wei Yan. From the civil side, he needed his Sleeping Dragon and Fledgeling Phoenix, along with Sun Qian, Mi Zhu, and others. Also, if Liu Bei could get his former son Liu Feng's head in the right place, perhaps he could become a viable general or heir, should things go south with Adou once again.

There were also numerous generals who he wanted to join him but was never able to convince. Xu Shu was an obvious one, but perhaps things could be easier this time, given the circumstances… And Taishi Ci, who he had once fought alongside to repel Yellow Turbans. Okay, perhaps Xuande had a lot of options – too many in fact. But either way, some of them were viable.

"General Liu, I see the young general joined your forces?" Xuande smiled and looked at Sun Jian.

"Indeed, General Sun. Our forces have gained a dragon whose wings are growing every day, have we not?" Wentai laughed and sat down.

"Truly, he is a powerful general. I see you also recruited the Yellow Turban captive Zhou Cang?" Liu Bei nodded.

"He lacked a lord whose ambitions were for good and not personal – I felt that in our forces, he might find someone sooner or later." Wentai laughed once more and sat down.

"You mean, you hope he finds one in you by the time the Turbans are crushed?" Xuande gave no response but let the silence speak for itself.

"Regardless, my generals have been worried about your health. I hope you won't die on us anytime soon?"

"I don't intend to, Heavens willing."

"I do have some good news though. General Han Dang managed to find Governor Liu Biao, who has promised to personally lead some thousands of men to our position. In addition, we have heard about more troop movement closing in on the Yellow Turbans. The leader of the new troops is unknown, but based on their position, they are against the Turbans as well." Liu Bei felt weight on his chest go away rapidly.

With Liu Biao and unknown allied troops helping, the ratio of his men to the Turbans went from perhaps 1:50 after the massacre where Zilong joined, to perhaps 1:15 if the troop numbers are generous, and 1:30 if they're few and far between. Plus, Zilong in his prime was worth over ten thousand men on his own.

"Excellent. Before your news, my heart felt like it was being slowly simmered, but now I feel fine. We can continue holding this pass until the allied forces come, at which point we can act on how to get a decisive battle in our favor…" Sun Jian nodded and grunted, before taking his leave. Feeling exhausted himself, Xuande closed his eyes and smiled, allowing sleep to conquer his mind for a few hours.

In another tent, Zilong brought the officers around in a circle before speaking to them.

"For those who haven't met me yet, my name is Zhao Yun, styled Zilong. Our Lord requested that I set aside a part of the camp for officers, but because there are only four of us, I decided to split us up into two tents. One tent will hold myself and Jian Yong, the other will hold Shan Fu and Zhou Cang." The three nodded and started moving materials to their new tents.

"Also, our Lord has requested for the captured officer Ma Teng to appear before him, but I suspect he is asleep or would be very unhappy to answer questions or pronounce judgement. Therefore, until our Lord decides what to do, we need someone to take him as a guest of sorts." As this was said, Jian Yong took leave of to find out who among the prominent soldiers and lesser officers would take and provide for an enemy hostage for a while. Eventually, he found a man.

"Jian Yong, Jian Xianhe! I am a lieutenant by the name of Wei Ping. I will take Ma Teng into my care! I will show him how truly kind our Lord is." Xianhe moved towards the man and saw the conviction in his eyes, and sent for Ma Teng to be sent to him.

When Teng arrived at Wei Ping's tent, he was immediately given a chair, a large bowl of water, a small bowl of wine, and some food. Frowning, the captured commander spoke up.

"Why do you treat an enemy commander with such kindness? For all you know, I could be executed at any time, why waste food and drink on me?" Wei Ping laughed.

"Because our Lord believes in benevolence, especially to those beneath him. Everywhere civilians reside, we pay homage to elders, and our Lord will execute those who do crimes on the innocent. For soldiers, he is kind in giving favors but strict with discipline, keeping men in line." Wei Ping leaned in closer. "He even gave me a big favor, which has kept my wife and son alive." Intrigued, Ma Teng asked for more information.

"My household in Jing Province isn't built on very fertile land, and my family and household servants rely greatly on me for income. The food that we buy is enough to feed most everyone, but even with me gone, there still isn't quite enough. Our Lord allowed several of our retainers to become footmen and noncombatants, and even allows my young child to stay with me, feeding us all on rations." Ma Teng frowned.

"I thought food supplies were a big issue for this army? How can General Liu provide such favors?" Wei Ping grinned and pointed towards the tent of command.

"General Liu takes almost no pay for himself, and commanders Shan Fu and Jian Yong take very little as well. He ensures that his income is close to minimal so he can provide more for the people, more for the soldiers. Is that not incredible?" Ma Teng blinked in shock before furrowing his eyebrows again.

"But even so, how do you know he will spare me?" Wei Ping looked at Shoucheng.

"Do you have a family at home?" Ma Teng nodded.

"I have a wife and three sons; Tie, Xiu, and Chao. I also have an infant nephew named Dai, who my dying brother entrusted to me. I fight in the Yellow Turbans so that they will be safe from the taxes, and the Qiang tribesmen can look after them without a Han in place." Wei Ping was greatly impressed and ordered his young son to bring in more wine for the general.

"Ma Shoucheng, I'm almost sure our Lord will give you everything you need – soldiers to command, pay to support your family, and when this war is over, he'll undoubtedly get a title of some kind. I'm sure you will be greatly rewarded if he allows you to join." Ma Teng gave a small smile and a nod before talking with Wei Ping long into the night, and as he slept, dreamed of benevolence Xuande could provide to his people, and dreamed of his son Chao fighting a large tiger in front of a huge pass.

The next day, Ma Teng was brought before Xuande by Zhao Yun. Unbound but unarmed, Ma Teng sat before Liu Bei, whose condition was improving stably, with heightened regeneration from happiness.

"Shoucheng, I hope you have been well in our camp?" Ma Teng nodded.

"General Liu, I apologize for the grievous wounds I have inflicted on you." Liu Bei's head tilted as his eyes narrowed.

"Why is that?" Shoucheng looked down.

"My Lord, I spoke with a lieutenant of yours last night, who spoke of the great generosity you showed his family by allowing retainers and his young son to join the army in varying roles. I can see now that you were truly sincere about your offer to help my people in Xiliang." Xuande smiled and brought Ma Teng to his feet.

"Friend, I will do whatever I can to bring the people of the Han peace and prosperity. When the war is over, my goal is to gain some form of property or an official role so I can support those troops who have joined me. I will do what I can to ensure good things come to your people." Shoucheng brought his head to the floor of Xuande's tent and thanked him graciously, and Xuande brought him to his feet.

"Brother Shocheng, where would you like to go from here? All that I ask is that you don't join the armies of Dong Zhuo or the Yellow Turbans. I'll gladly help you get to wherever you wish." Ma Teng bowed and made his request.

"My Lord, I have two requests, one of which is small, the other is more… Demanding." Liu Bei gestured for him to speak.

"My first request is simple – I wish to return to Xiliang and spread word of what happened here, such that my people will know and accept whatever you send their way." The former Shu Emperor smiled and nodded, asking for his more troubling request.

"You allowed a young child to stay here under the care of your army. My eldest son demanded night and day before I left that I allow him to join an army one day, but refused to work for me or anyone working in the provinces. As I see it, you are both an Imperial army General and a volunteer, so your army would be perfect – legal too. May I send my son to this army so he can learn about military, and learn from your example?" Liu Bei frowned and was very distressed by this last request.

"My army is still in dire straits. I have no opposition to taking your son in, but what would happen if the Turbans broke my army? How could I ensure that your heir would be kept safe, never mind returning him to your service in a timely manner?" Ma Teng laughed.

"The Tigers of the Sun family and the Dragon in your own forces won't allow your forces to die out so fast, Xuande. He will be fine, if only because the environment in your camp is safer than that in Xiliang. If anything, my placing him here is an insurance that he will be kept safe, and that the promise to support our people is not forgotten." Blinking but satisfied with his logic, Xuande sent for people to bring Ma Teng away to Xiliang. As Shoucheng left, Shan Fu and Zhou Cang came before Liu Bei.

"My Lord, is it not possible for Teng to simply be using a getaway to Xiliang as an excuse to return to the Yellow Turbans with information about our camp?" Xuande laughed.

"Generals, if Ma Teng wanted information about our camp, he saw very little. All he knows is that I have four generals, practice benevolence, and am allied with Sun Jian and his four generals. He also believes my condition is worse than it actually is – my healing has been nothing short of supernatural. In addition, I believe that Ma Teng will truly send his son to me, if only as an insurance for the sake of the Qiang tribesmen of Liang Province. Dong Zhuo is not a good man to live under." Satisfied, the two generals left, with Jian Yong leaving soon after.

Soon, it was just Zilong and Xuande.

"My Lord, I think I have a strategy for dealing with the Yellow Turban rebels once and for all." Xuande became very interested and listened to his Tiger General's plan…

What was Zilong's plan?

Read on.

 **Heh. The "What was blahblahblah? Read on" pattern is from a text. Who among you can guess it? Hint: it's a tad obvious, given the context of this story and my knowledge of it.**

 **Style Names:**

 **Yunchang – Guan Yu**

 **Yide – Zhang Fei**

 **Zilong – Zhao Yun**

 **Shoucheng – Ma Teng**

 **Xianhe – Jian Yong**

 **Cool. I'm heading off now to do some homework.**

 **Later!**

 **~KingsOfSarutobi**


	8. Chapter 8: The Great Blunder

**No reviews, eh. I know that last chapter wasn't my best work. Too mushy. Regardless, blood, gore, and intrigue will return very soon, I assure you.**

 **Have I ever said that Junior year is killing me slowly but surely? Right now I'm at 2 drops of blood coughed up and about 2.5 weeks of 4 hours of sleep. I feel like Guo Jia. In the kinda-shitty sick death kind. Fun times.**

 **Since I have no reviews to go over, let the chapter begin!**

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 **裂 - to split, crack, break open, rend.**

 **Trivia: All three times Liu Bei has come to the aid/taken refuge under a ruler of one province, he has taken over that province (Xu under Tao Qian, Jing under Liu Biao, Yi under Liu Zhang).**

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For the Yellow Turbans, night descended as it always had. Frequent prayers requesting for Zhang Jiao to send the Golden Age free of the Han filled the camps. Despite losing over one third of their forces, the Turbans knew that their brothers-in-arms were winning battles against Zhu Jun, Lu Zhi, and Huangfu Song. As for how those victories were achieved, everyone but the high command had no idea.

"General Bao, I have a message from the Voice of the Heavens." Zhang Bao turned around, and saw his commanders Zhao Hong and Sun Zhong.

"Ah, please give it to me. I'm sure my Brother will want me to act on the Voice without any delay!" Grabbing the scroll from Zhao Hong, Zhang Bao read the message.

 _General of the Land Zhang Bao,_

 _From what my informants tell me, you were attacked by several small forces in a devastating ambush that slew over one third of your men, and several of your prominent commanders have been captured. Given what I know about your opponent, Liu Bei styled Xuande, I suspect he will keep at least one of them alive, if only for the sake of sentimentality._

 _Ma Teng has likely been either released or recruited into Xuande's forces. I do not know who the other general is, so I sincerely doubt he will be significant in the future._

 _Nevertheless, Xuande's men's morale is high, he suspects yours is cripplingly low, and thus he will likely do something risky. Watch for omens, act with caution, and think with the cunning of a wolf that stalks his prey. Despite winning a couple of battles against you, Xuande is still infinitely weaker while you hold this critical numerical advantage. Do not lose this opportunity, as once his wings are fully grown, his talent will eclipse yours a million times over._

 _Voice of the Heavens_.

Zhang Bao looked over the message, the words about omens and risky maneuvers fresh in his mind. Thinking quickly, he sent Sun Zhong to tell the commanders to report any portents, and requested for Zhao Hong to double the sentries and report any information about the Han army without engaging.

Zhang Bao paced his tent, wondering what omens he should look for. His brother's star in the heavens was still strong, so there was no concern there. The weather hadn't indicated anything, and his commanders were all resilient and acting normally – there was no sign of deception among his ranks. Additionally, the losses of Zhou Cang and Ma Teng were not horrible and could easily be made up for – neither was significantly important.

As the night continued, Zhang Bao saw movement from the corner of his eye. One of his flags was being waved around by the wind, as if a mighty storm was sweeping through it. Narrowing that eye as he watched the flag, he saw the pole snap in half as the banner fell to the ground. Staring towards the heavens once more, he saw the stars of the Han shining brightly, but looked a little bit more threatening than usual. Eyes widening as the situation dawned on him, he recalled his generals. As they gathered around him, Zhang Bao made a risky military decision.

"Here's what we're going to do…"

Meanwhile, a small force was marching towards the Yellow Turban main camp. As eagle-eyed Shan Fu and wolf-minded Zu Mao approached, they noticed the Turban sentries in the southeast side of the camp were dozing off. Grabbing ropes, Shan Fu had a small group of soldiers scale the walls of the camp, slitting the throats of the Turbans as they entered. As more men went up, Shan Fu saw Zu Mao staying put with his small company of men.

"General Zu, why do you hold up?" Zu Mao looked at Shan Fu.

"The banner of Zhang Bao has snapped, and if any among them are wise, they'll know that we intend to kill him! Wait until they believe we won't attack, then we can sneak in and assassinate him!"

"What time is any better than this? Their troops are in disarray, look! If their sentries are all sleeping and their flagpoles snapped, what is stopping us from marching in and slaying Zhang Bao ourselves?" Sighing, Zu Mao joined up with Shan Fu, but remained at the southwest corner, in the event they needed to pull out.

Shan Fu led the majority of his men through towards the camp, where there were plenty of lit torches, but no Turbans. Not even sentries were present as they got further into the camp. Before long, a lieutenant who eagerly volunteered to join the assassination party stood forward.

"Wei Ping, what is it?"

"General Shan, all of the sentries are gone, and I don't think the Turbans are in bad enough shape for them to leave their camp like this. Is this not suspicious?" Shan Fu turned angrily towards him.

"First Zu Mao doubts this plan, and now you do too? There is no man among the Turbans with the capability to see through this plan. None at all." Wei Ping looked towards the sky.

"The Heavens have shown the Han's stars bright and burning, the normally hot weather signifying the element Fire, the element of the Han, has been gone for several months, and the flagpoles have snapped – does this not show the Heavens desire our plot to be discovered? Better to turn back and be safe than try a risky move and lose our men in the attempt." Shan Fu was furious and about to execute him, but due to the begging of his fellow soldiers, Yuanzhi let him go.

As they entered the funeral tents for Zhou Cang and Ma Teng, who were presumed dead, Shan Fu ordered search parties, and the men went in and searched. Upon returning, the search parties gave their analysis.

"General, Zhou Cang's tombstone promises that 'fools who ignore Heaven will be sacrificed here'."

"General, Ma Teng's tombstone says 'Death to the Han, No Retreat for the Successors.'" Shan Fu was greatly confused until he heard loud banging from all around him, as thousands of Yellow Turbans closed in on his forces.

Surrounded, Shan Fu realized that he had been tricked – The Turban camp wasn't empty or weak, it was laying an ambush!

"Men, we must cut our way back towards General Zu Mao! He is where our line of retreat is!" His soldiers all roared in approval as they made a train towards the enemy, but realized that their inferior numbers would ensure certain death unless a distraction peeled off some men. Just as Shan Fu was about to strategize a method, a lone soldier jumped out and slashed down numerous Turbans with a long spear retrieved from camp. He had hastily tied a white cape reminiscent of the Baima horsemen, just in the same style as Zhao Yun.

"I am Zhao Yun, Zhao Zilong! No Turbans will leave this night alive!" Shan Fu turned around and realized that the man there was not Zilong at all, but was an older civilian-turned-soldier. Confused but wasting no time, he ordered his men to charge through the now confused Turbans, and charge they did. Despite losing almost half of his troops, Shan Fu escaped the encirclement and fled towards the edge of the camp, where they found more Turbans lead by Zhao Hong and Sun Zhong.

"Oh! Is my death really this close at hand?" Shan Fu wailed in despair, as he and those remaining men began to lose heart.

"Don't give up yet, General Shan!" Zu Mao charged through the enemy ranks, halberd swinging at his enemies as his die-hard soldiers charged.

"There are no Turbans left at the point of retreat – lead your remaining men there! I'll catch up with you or die holding the bastards here!" Panicking but not letting Zu Mao's risks be in vain, Shan Fu charged towards the escape point, watching Mao plunge the whole head of his halberd into Sun Zhong, scattering his men. At that point, Cheng Yuanzhi and Deng Mao both came out, and the three Turban generals engaged Zu Mao, looking to encircle his men.

As Shan Fu and his men scampered back to Xuande, their lord opened the gates and received Shan Yuanzhi, who had been weeping tears of grief.

"Shan Fu, what happened?"

"My Lord, there was an ambush! Even though Zu Mao and Wei Ping told me of that possibility several times, I refused to listen, and many of our men died!" At that point, Sun Wentai moved to the front.

"Where is Zu Mao?" Shan Fu could not look up at the Tiger of Jiangdong, and simply replied with;

"He brought up the rear, and was fighting three Turban leaders at once." Liu Bei asked quickly,

"Which ones?"

"Cheng Yuanzhi, Deng Mao, and Zhao Hong." Wentai and Xuande knew all three generals were valiant and dangerous, and Zu Mao could by no means defeat all three on his own.

"How did you escape, Yuanzhi? Not even Zu Mao could hold off the entire pursuing horde. Who else stalled them?" Shan Fu spoke up.

"Lieutenant Wei Ping grabbed a spear and a white cape, tied it around himself, and flung himself into the enemy ranks, stabbing them all down, shouting that he was Zhao Zilong himself, coming to smite the Turbans once and for all." Xuande lowered his head in mourning, before allowing Shan Fu's men to return to the city, and the blundering officer sat on his knees outside of the camp, waiting for news of Zu Mao and Wei Ping's fates.

As the sun rose the next day, several foot soldiers remained, blood dripping in a small stream behind them.

Xuande, upon hearing the commotion, ran to them, but Wentai had arrived first.

"Soldier, where is General Zu Mao? Do we have any news about his or Liutenant Wei Ping's locations?" The battered man looked up, and pointed towards another figure, about five hundred paces behind him.

"That is General Zu. He told us all to run while he kept up the rearguard. Everyone else who didn't get out before he did has died." Looking ahead, Sun Jian and the others saw Zu Mao, walking slowly, and hunched over as if exhausted. Crisscrossed along his armor were slash marks, spear stabs, and even a couple of arrows. It seemed as if he was a corpse walking, so numerous were his wounds!

Wentai, Han Dang, Huang Gai, and Cheng Pu all ran out, grabbing their brother-in-arms and bringing him back to the medical tent.

"Brother Mao, how are you?" Zu Mao looked at Wentai, and spoke from lips parched and leaking blood out of one corner as he grabbed Sun Jian's wrist, on eye half-closed, the other more open. It was only then that they realized just how pale he was.

"Lord Sun… I… Am going on ahead…" All four generals tried to assure Zu Mao he would survive, that medical attention would come and that his wounds would be repaired in time for the next battle. As this was happening, Mao was grabbing tighter and tighter onto Jian's wrist

"General Mao, you can't die yet!" Zu Mao chucked slightly, drawing the attention of Wentai.

"Lord Sun… Remember where the fault of this battle lies… Never forget…" Han Dang looked towards Zu Mao and questioned where the fault lay.

"Two places… Both on ours and theirs… The Turbans inflicted the wounds, but whose plan was it to go in? Who has gained while we have suffered? Lord Sun…" Zu Mao tried sitting up, and gripped Jian's wrist so tightly that his skin was turning blue.

"Brother Mao, whom?" Asked Huang Gai, struggling to keep the ideas of Zu Mao surviving still in his head. Zu Mao looked at each of Sun Jian's generals and then finally at his lord.

"Lord Sun… My Brothers… Please… Don't forget me." With that, Zu Mao fell back to his bed, the pressure on Sun Jian's wrist ebbing away, like the heartbeat of a general who had sustained a few too many wounds. As the four wept for their brother in arms who lay cooling on the bed, Cheng Pu looked up in anger.

"My Lord, I think I realized what Zu Mao meant with his final words." Huang Gai, Han Dang, and Sun Jian all looked up in confusion.

"The attack was created by Zhao Yun, Liu Bei's general, and the failure of it was carried out by Shan Fu, another of Liu Bei's generals, who survived the encounter with fairly minor wounds! In the encounters, Liu Bei has received the services of two generals, and we have lost one! He has gained fame, and we, who saved him in his hour of need, have received close to none! This is clear injustice, and it has not only cost us time and resources, but Zu Mao himself!" Sun Jian and Han Dang's eyes darkened. Huang Gai responded.

"I suggest we pull out our forces immediately, and request the execution of Shan Fu!" Sun Jian shook his head.

"There is no need; Xuande will honor the friendship between our armies and execute Shan Fu, or force hardship on him." Han Dang and Huang Gai were skeptical, so Wentai went in person, and waited outside of the future Shu Emperor's tent.

"My Lord, I don't think Zu Mao will survive his wounds." Wentai heard Xuande sigh.

"I agree, if he hasn't died already." Shan Fu's next words were reserved.

"My Lord, it is my fault that Zu Mao is crossing over to death, will Sun Jian not request my execution, or not force some sort of hardship on me?" Sun Jian waited for Xuande's response, still out of sight.

"You will not be executed, Yuanzhi. That mistake was destined by a whim of Heaven, and thus we cannot stop it from happening." Wentai felt enraged that his good friend would lower Zu Mao's death to 'a whim', but continued listening patiently.

"Lord, Sun Jian will not allow me to survive in this army, he will demand my death even if I didn't deserve it!" With this, Xuande laughed.

"Tell me this, Shan Fu: Who is the general you serve on this battlefield?" Shan Fu responded.

"It is yourself, your Lordship."

"Then why should Sun Jian decide your fate? Wentai is my friend, my brother in arms, and a true hero of the realm, but he has no say in what I do with my generals, just as I have no say in what happens to his. However, there will have to be a consequence of some kind, but I will determine that at a later date. First, we must understand the enemy military position, then, prepare a funeral for General Zu." Wentai felt empty. His friend Liu Bei, a man who had shown him utmost benevolence and kindness, a man who owed the Tiger of Jiangdong his life, would not exercise justice to protect his own officer.

As he walked back into the medical tent, seeing the three officers mourning Zu Mao heavily, General Sun mourned with them for a time being, until all four felt the original emotions of death replaced by a mellow but constant heaviness of the heart.

"Lord Sun." It was Cheng Pu.

"Demou."

"Xuande isn't going to punish that Shan brat, is he?" Sun Jian shook his head, at that moment looking very much like a quietly enraged tiger.

"General, are our armies leaving?"

Sun Jian nodded in total silence, and ordered his generals to start having their men pack up, and prepare garb of mourning and a coffin for Zu Mao.

Maybe after some time of mourning and reequipping troops, the four remaining leaders of the Sun army could march against the Yellow Turbans once more, but for now, the cost of a few days was too high.

As Wentai's forces were about to depart, Liu Bei greeted them at the gates and expressed great grief that Sun Jian would be leaving his forces.

"General Liu."

"Wentai."

"I will likely return to another battlefield sometime in the future, hopefully with Zu Mao's soul guiding us along the way." Xuande's eyes darkened as he realized that someone in the Sun army had realized that Shan Fu would not be punished.

"Please ensure that some form of justice is enacted for my dear general's death." With that, Sun Jian, the Tiger of Jiangdong, left, his original contingent of 1,000 men reduced to 850. Han Dang lead the vanguard, Cheng Pu the center, and Huang Gai held the rear. Wentai and several of his most trusted foot soldiers accompanied the procession back to Changsha, to bury Zu Mao. Eyes closed in sorrow, Xuande stayed until the sounds of Jian's army was gone, and then retreated.

Over the course of several days, Xuande received numerous requests to execute Shan Fu, blaming him for Wentai's army's leaving. Many lamented the death of Wei Ping, the man with the bravery to hold off an entire army by himself long enough for the others to escape. Shan Fu came under heavy pressure to either commit suicide or submit to execution, with only Xuande and Zilong vouching for his innocence.

As Xuande's anger at the rift that appeared among his troops intensified, he called a grand meeting of his troops to find a solution. Almost immediately, the retainers of Wei Ping spoke.

"My Lord, the head of our household has died, and if justice is not served, Lieutenant Wei's soul will never be at rest!"

"My Lord, Lady Wei will surely die of sadness when she hears of this!"

"My Lord, please do not forsake justice in our hour of need!" As the roars intensified, Shan Fu wept in fear and guilt once more, and looked to be reaching to his sword, but Zilong stopped him, saying that suicide was not the solution to this situation.

"Quiet! As soldiers of the Han, we cannot afford to lose our brotherhood now!" With that, he smashed his hand on a wooden table, silencing his troops in fear.

"Lord Liu is correct." All voices turned towards the new speaker, whose voice was small and high compared to the others.

"Shan Fu's merits far outweigh his consequences, and executing a key general in the middle of a campaign would weaken our army and its morale tremendously." Xuande now was in shock, staring at the child, who spoke well and logically for his age.

"Shan Fu's actions resulted in the deaths of two prominent men, Zu Mao and Wei Ping, the likes of which only comes once in a decade. My Lord, to achieve justice without slaughtering your own men, banish Shan Fu from your sphere of influence for twenty years, ten for each general lost. Send him to notable scholars and generals such that when he returns, he will be well-learned and shall understand where his faults lie." By now, the entire crowd was silent, staring at the child who had proposed such an excellent solution.

As no one seemed willing to move, Zhao Zilong stepped forward, moving towards the edge of the circle, and reached out his hand to the child. Taking it, the young one walked with Zilong to their lord, and the assembly watched in shock as the child acted with the ritualization of one at least three or four times his age.

"My Lord, please do not execute Shan Fu, the retainers of Lieutenant Wei speak out of desire for justice, but their justice is not the same as your benevolence. Father's influence also managed to help convince Ma Teng to send his eldest child here as an insurance, gaining your Lordship a powerful ally in the north. If you were to execute him, he might think twice about making that connection." At this point, the main officers of Xuande were smiling with the exception of Shan Fu, who was ashen with shock.

"General Shan Fu, can you describe the situation you encountered?" Shan Fu described it, but once he read the titles of the banners inside of Ma Teng's funerary space, he felt sick, going unnoticed by anyone but Zilong and the child.

"See, my lord? The breaking of the banner and the exposure of the Han's stars were clearly a sign that Heaven did not want us to win this battle, not a measure of General Shan's ability Therefore, temporary banishment for him to achieve enlightenment will benefit heaven, earth, and man. All will be well."

Xuande, who had seen much crazier things at this point, went around his chair and sat down on his knees in front of the child, smiling.

"Little One, what is your name?" The little tyke smiled.

"My name is…"

 **Again, use context clues to figure this one out - this one is too easy. I shouldn't have given as many hints as I did. Remember, use death dates and clues within the chapter. Whoever guesses the right answer first gains some brownie points.**

 **Question: Who (in your opinion), was the most significant general for Shu outside of the Five Tiger Generals (IMO, Zhuge Liang cannot be an answer - far too easy :3, and far too true)? Let me know what you all think!**

 **Anyhow, I'm going to write another chapter now because I'll probably be up till 2:00 AM (as one does), so I may as well do something with that time.**

 **~KoS**


	9. Chapter 9: Mourning

**I hate junior year. Seriously. It's one giant CF of tests, projects, quizzes, and essays. Thank God I can write and read about the Three Kingdoms here and there, eh? Seriously. I think this is what's keeping my sanity in place.**

 **Time for some replies;**

 **ChenGong91: Thanks for contributing your thoughts.**

 **Jennifer Wilson: What's even odder is Zhuge Liang playing music and driving off Sima Yi's huge army, but oh well, logic took a bit of a back seat in that point in time... Shan Fu was stated to have killed someone in revenge and afterwards dedicated his life to studies, so he had to screw up somewhere, right?**

 **Yeah, the Turban arc is over. Sorry for taking so long. The reason I chose Zu Mao was because he has so little written about him historically, but he's on the same level in the early days as the 3 other veteran generals, so... I just kinda sped up history with some blunders, that's all.**

 **SkullKat90210: It won't be abused, and which part was surprising? Shan Fu's mistake, Zu Mao's issue known as death, Sun Jian ragequitting... Yeah I like surprises. While I like Zhuge "Benevolence" Liang, I think an even better name is Zhuge "Derpy Dubbing" Liang.**

 **No one caught the little reference I made to an important person. That makes me sad. Anyhow, I'm going to post this chapter (as one does), and await reactions.**

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 **晋 - To move forward, to promote, to advance.**

 **Trivia: Li Ru, one of Dong Zhuo's advisors, considered Hua Xiong a superior leader to Lu Bu.**

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"I am the son of Wei Ping. I have been serving as an attendant to my father's soldiers, and was an aide to his strategic planning." Xuande looked at the child and wept.

"My Lord, what do you cry for?"

"I approved the plan which ended in the disaster that caused your father's death, yet you, at such a young age, preach solutions of justice and benevolence! Oh, how I wish Ping could see how far you have come!" The small child laughed and bowed, but as he tried to leave, Zhao Zilong grabbed his arm and the three of them sat in a small huddle.

"Little one, is there anything you desire? Our army and my foolishness has cost you your father his life. Is there anything that can be done?" Ping's son thought for a second before responding.

"All I wish is that you find me somewhere I can be looked after for, and when I come of age, I wish to join your army, and help you achieve your grand ambitions." Xuande sighed and dispersed the meeting, and allowed Wei Ping's son to reside in the tent of command, promising that he would look after the young child in his own household once the war was over.

Shan Fu, despite being given a judgement of long exile, was very happy and grateful, both to Xuande and Wei Ping's child, who he viewed as the two who saved him.

Before leaving, Xuande gave very specific instructions to Shan Fu.

"Yuanzhi, I suspect people will shame your name because of what happened involving General Zu, I would advise you change your name when you go into hiding." Shan Fu nodded and looked down, Xuande continued speaking.

"Find a man by the name of Sima Hui, styled Decao, known in Taoist circles as Water Mirror – he is one of the finest minds of the day, and quite a few of the people who study under him go on to do great things." Quietly, Xuande whispered his next instructions so quietly that only the two of them could hear, not even Zilong could understand what was being said.

"In a few years, a young child will study under Sima Hui – he will be the middle child of three brothers, lives with his uncle because his father is dead, and will become a legend in due time. Befriend him, and when you return in twenty years, bring him into our army. He will become a pillar of the realm, and a key to restoring the Han's power." Nodding, Shan Fu left, donning a hood to hide his appearance.

A few hours later, Xuande lay down in his tent, about to sleep. However, before long, a messenger came from general He Jin. Too tired and developing a headache, Jian Yong received the message and gathered Zilong, Wei Ping's child, and Zhou Cang to Liu Bei's bedside, where he read the letter for everyone to hear.

"General Liu, a very unusual circumstance has popped up – Generals Zhang Jiao and Zhang Liang have gone missing, and scouts in your area have reported Zhang Bao is gone as well. While we don't know why you have failed to discover and report Bao's army's disappearance, we do know that you and General Sun Jian scored several impressive victories over them, slaughtering tens of thousands in the span of a couple weeks. Due to the fact that large troop movements have not been heard recently, we suspect that the Turbans have died down, probably due to the greatness of the Han armies. When the Emperor heard of your little force's achievements, he was beside himself with glee, and was happy that an imperial relative had made such gains. Therefore, he has invited you to the capitol to receive a title, honor for your army, and great opportunity to help the Imperial Court." Xuande groaned.

"The Capitol, really? Even a humble mat weaver like myself knows that the capitol is swarming with Eunuchs and regents who usurp the Emperor's power, and try to bribe and tempt him with decadence. Regardless, as an imperial in-law, it is my duty. Tell the messenger that I must have a place to garrison my army, and then I will present myself before the Emperor." As the messenger came close to Xuande, he whispered that He Jin would appreciate, and was hoping to have Liu Bei's forces nearby. Finally consenting, Xuande brought his force towards the capitol, where he was warmly welcomed by He Jin.

"General Liu, the people have praised your name to the heavens on a multitude of occasions, and we know you are a true hero of the Han, a noble hero." Xuande smiled, but his smile turned fake once the part about nobility was mentioned.

"Regardless of what you must think about my army, I know that your Lordship and the Emperor both wish to talk to me. Shall I enter?" He Jin smiled and nodded, welcoming Xuande and Zhao Zilong into his personal compound.

"Imperial Brother-in-Law, what brings you to summon a humble mat-weaver such as myself?" He Jin dismissed his attendants so that there were only the three in the room. Quieting his voice, Jin spoke his intentions.

"With the Yellow Turbans gone, I believe now would be the perfect chance to get rid of the Eunuchs that surround the Emperor. They have been trying to corrupt him, have corrupted the court, and desire to take power away from the princes. General Liu, you have fought off hundreds of thousands of Turbans with only a handful of soldiers, you would be a perfect addition to this restoration of the Han." Xuande looked skeptical and remembered He Jin's cruelty towards his forces in wartime.

"General He, when my force originally tried joining you, you treated us poorly, and sent us off to serve another. Why would you seek my help now, when the situation is much less dire?" He Jin sighed and looked at Xuande with some irritation.

"In all honesty, it was not my plan to invite you, but another who reviewed your contributions in the defense of Zhu Jun's forces." When asked to elaborate, He Jin gave his answer.

"He's not anyone of noble status, but he's got a damn good brain. His name is Cao, given name Cao, styled Mengde. He's one of my attendants at court. When Cao Mengde saw the numerous battles you had one, he said your heroism would lead to victory for the Han." Zilong grew dark-faced at the sound of Cao's name, and Xuande was internally very angry as well. Cao Cao, the same man who had helped bring the Han to its knees, use Xuande to defeat the eunuchs and claim some of the victory?

"My Lord, I cannot assist in this endeavor. My men still need a home, and I do not work very well with other generals, especially ones who I don't know, such as this Cao fellow." He Jin shook his head.

"You intend to help these Eunuchs in their usurpation of the Han then?" Xuande shook his head.

"No, in reality, I intend to help the Emperor in a different way. The people of Xiliang suffer under Dong Zhuo, and a general I met by the name of Ma Teng strongly desired to find justice for his people. I will take whatever fief I am given, treat the people with justice and benevolence, and support those in need, all in the name of Emperor Ling." He Jin shrugged, apparently satisfied with the response.

"Whatever you intend to do, General Liu, make sure that the Eunuchs don't know about this meeting. The fate of the Han rests in the hands of those who know this plot." Xuande swore on his life to never divulge that secret, and the two of them went to the court of the emperor, who doted on Xuande, lamenting that such a powerful general was born a mat-weaver.

Upon leaving the hall after a grinding two hours of political torture, Liu Bei had now become the governor of Xiaopei, after listing all of the reasons why Xu Province was a perfect place for his army to rest, speaking in great detail about the relative peace, the benevolence of Tao Qian, and how Xuzhou could be at risk for remnants of the Yellow Turbans to reappear from their mysterious disappearance.

"Where are we going, my lord?" Xuande smiled and pointed southeast.

"To Xuzhou, first to the capitol to pay homage to Tao Qian, second to Xiaopei, where I have been assigned." The generals spread out to alert the Army of Xuande's reward, and assembled a carriage for their lord. Wei Ping's child was also offered a seat in the carriage, but refused, stating that his father had started a foot soldier, so would he. The soldiers, impressed by the child's and determination, recommended to Zilong that he become an officer once he proved himself in battle.

Xuande, in the carriage, still felt an unknown loneliness.

Maybe it was because he as a man on his own, without a wife or children. Over the years, Liu Bei had married three women, lady Mi, lady Gan, and Sun Shangxiang. Mi had died of illness, Gan in the disastrous retreat at Changban, and Shangxiang had abandoned him and returned to Wu.

Maybe it was because Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were not at his side as they once were, for over thirty years of sworn brotherhood.

Perhaps it was because he and Zhao Yun were the only ones to know about the future, about Yunchang slaying Hua Xiong, Yide holding off the Cao horde at Changban, the never-ending genius of Zhuge Liang pulling through at Chibi, the strange connection between him and Cao Cao, whom he bitterly hated yet knew the best of all.

Perhaps it was that, despite coming from a future where he was experienced and ready, the former Shu emperor could not stop good people from dying, even in his first few months of this world. Looking off towards where he knew the center of the Empire was, Xuande wondered how Wentai was doing.

In the commandery of Changsha, white banners hung from every major location. If one were to go outside of the city itself, one would find beautiful trees in full bloom, and smell incense and sacrifice. If one were to look closer, they would find a tombstone dedicated to Zu Mao, styled Darong. Four men wept bitterly in front of it, white garb of mourning above battle armor stained by Yellow Turban blood.

Directly in front of the tomb was Sun Jian, styled Wentai, who mourned his general greatly, head touching the ground.

To his left were Cheng Pu and Han Dang, to his right, Huang Gai. The three remaining generals of Sun eventually left, returning to their families with a visage of sadness and silence. Jian stayed longer, but even he retired, going home at sundown. As he entered, Wentai saw his nine-year old son Ce run up to him, grabbing his father's waist and laughing in delight.

"Father, Father, you're back!" Wentai allowed the pain from Zu Mao's death to depart for a little bit, for the sake of his family.

"Indeed I am, little Ce. Have you been staying out of trouble since I left?" Sun Ce sat down in front of his father and recalled what he had done, but the events of the last couple of weeks surprised him.

"And then it was me and Zhou Yu, and we had all of our friends divide up into armies, and we fought a battle!" Wentai blinked as he tilted his head.

"Oh? Which one of you won?" Little Ce grinned cheekily at his dad.

"I did, but only because I knew how to fight. Zhou Yu is really smart, you know? He had his soldiers hide behind trees and in bushes and ambush where I had the weakest soldiers. He defeated them and then withdrew, and then we fought a big battle, where I nearly lost!" So, little Zhou Yu was a strategist, and his son was a lion on the battlefield? Not bad, not bad at all. Perhaps it would be an excuse to find that reclusive scholar… What was his name? Sima something? Ah, that's right; Sima Decao.

"Well, this Zhou Yu fellow sounds very smart! Bring him here sometime and I'll find out just how smart he is, and if he's something else, I'll find someone to teach him." Ce laughed and wandered outside of the house, enjoying the sight of the trees and the 'funny sweet smell' in the air. It wasn't a minute later that his younger son Quan walked in, and looked up at his father with big eyes, before a few tears welled up.

"Quan, what's wrong? Did something happen?" Quan held up two fingers.

"First, I missed Daddy, and brother did too, but not as much as me!" Wentai held his son close as he heard the second thing.

"I saw you and Uncle Cheng, Uncle Huang, and Uncle Han, but no Uncle Zu, and you guys were holding a box for dead people." Quan almost murmured the last part, and Wentai held his youngest child close.

"Uncle Zu has left, Quan. Even Daddy doesn't know where he is now." Quan nodded, and sat with his father in silence for about half an hour before walking outside to stare at the stars intently. Wentai knew his little boy liked studying, perhaps he was looking at constellations? Sighing, he retired to his sleeping quarters, where he came across Lady Wu the elder, and Lady Wu the younger, his wives. Sighing, as Wentai lay in bed, he looked up at his roof, as if he could see the heavens above it.

"Goodbye, Zu Darong." Said Sun Jian, as he entered into the land of dreams.

Outside, Quan continued sitting, restless.

"Uncle Zu, you died so soon! You should have survived for seven more years, even without my interference – what did you in this time around?" Allowing a tear or two to depart, the three-year-old bowed to the area where he knew Zu Mao was buried, and walked inside, before looking out. If it happened without his influence, what changed? If something had changed, what could cause that change? What was this change? Although neither would know it, two former emperors sighed at the same time, as each looked to the heavens, seeking answers for their questions.

 **Style Names:**

 **Decao - Sima Hui**

 **Darong - Zu Mao (Note: Zu Mao's style name is not canon, but I found it in the Koei wiki and decided to add it anyway, better than no style name, right?)**

 **I like making people shocked.**

 **It makes me happy.**

 **Does anyone have any predictions they'd like to share? Characterization they like or dislike? Tell me!**

 **~KoS**


	10. Chapter 10: Escalation

**Family issues are annoying. Also, this chapter is a lot longer than the usual, sorry if you're not a fan of it :P.**

 **ANYWAY, there are a lot of reviews to go over, and many of them are absurdly long, so I'll shorten up my responses as much as I can.**

 **SkullKat90201: Yeah, I'm dreading college. Luckily for me though, I have two years before that bag of worms.**

 **Jennifer Wilson: I'll inbox you a response, given the length of your review. I did know about the Jin character though, I found it rather amusing tbh.**

 **Guest: I'll keep that in mind, but note that Wei Ping and Zu Mao told Shan Fu there was an issue, and yet the two of them died while he lived. We can assume that Zu Mao was not happy about his undoing.**

 **Dynasty Guest, you have two lengthy reviews, so I'll break them up by review.**

 **1: I wish the three kingdoms would just get along too, but the conflict, the competition of minds and resources, and the friendship turned hatred between the leaders is what makes the period so rich, and so vibrant. The consequences of the butterfly effect are very much in my mind, and I've tried very hard to make events branch off based on changes between old vs new lives. Regardless, some of the events must remain the same, otherwise the story could spiral off in about a billion directions. On the topic of gender & Liu Bei's romantic life, I say this - Cao Cao had a harem of many women, almost all of them wives of people he had killed, so Liu Bei having three wives, while seeming outrageous and sexist to our 21st century minds, was very much a staple of that era. As for women on the battlefield, I agree with your point - no one in that era could progress to the point of allowing women on the battlefield historically, and I will likely be mirroring that reality in my story.**

 **2: I wasn't aware of the translation of "Nanman", thank you very much for the info! As for the Nan tribesmen, I don't think I'll deal with them until much later on, given that there's so little information, just like the bit about Huo referring to capture. As for 'wild cards', expect Lu Bu to be as unpredictable as ever. A Jin-Wei meetup would be so interesting, but I sincerely doubt I'll be having a dedicated meetup for some time. As for the bit about Taoist priests, we'll deal with that on a case-by-case basis. Personally, I really love the story about Gan Ji messing up Sun Ce's day, as much as I love the little conqueror. Zuo Ci is a bit of a wildcard, especially because he seems to have no affiliations with anyone.**

 **./end review rant.**

 **Anyway, please read, enjoy, and tell me what you think.**

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 **总 - To gather, to assemble, general, total.**

 **Trivia: Zhang Lu, a great enemy of Liu Zhang, was put in power by Liu's father, Liu Yan.**

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For six years, Liu Xuande ruled over Xiaopei, turning the town from a small, impoverished place, to a bustling center of trade and activity in Xuzhou.

After taking office from Tao Qian, Xuande assigned his generals to various locations. Immediately after taking office, Xuande sent Jian Yong to create an alliance with the Mi clan, eventually bringing the heads, Zhu and Fang, into his service. In addition, Jian Yong was sent to find Sun Qian, a man who would serve Xuande's cause for over twenty years with unfaltering loyalty.

After discussing the matter of Mi Fang's betrayal of Guan Yu with Zilong, they both decided to keep Mi Fang close, and assigned him as the 'General who Recruits Armies', and sent him to retrain and look after the army that served in the Yellow Turban Rebellion. His brother, Zhu, became one of the city's chief managers, alongside Sun Qian and Jian Yong.

Zhou Cang became "General of the Guard", and was placed in charge of the city's defenses, also placing him in charge of maintaining the order in garrisons. Zhao Yun became the "Unshakable General of the Household", giving him command over the entire military force, plus was given the assignment of protecting Liu Bei, his wife, Lady Mi, and concubine, Lady Gan. Lady Gan has already borne Xuande a child, a daughter named Liu Hua, who was now almost two years old.

As per his promise with Ma Teng, any excess grain that didn't go into storage was sent over to him, along with local delicacies. Liu Bei had not heard from Sun Jian at all, but then again, had never tried contacting him after the schism in their forces.

If one were to look inside of the chief building of Xiaopei, one would find Liu Bei pacing in the main hall, small beads of sweat dripping down his face. Sitting down near him was Zhao Zilong, who looked worried at his lord's state.

"I don't know, Zilong. I really don't know what's got me this way. Last night I dreamed of a great darkness slaying Emperor Shao. Who knows? The scouts who we sent out will have to tell us when they get back." Liu Bei nodded, before sitting down and drinking a bowl of wine.

"You know, Zilong, I was thinking about something. I want to know your thoughts on it, given our unique… _circumstances_." Zilong nodded and listened attentively.

"What would Yide and Yunchang say if they could see me? Would they approve of me abandoning them?" Zilong got an awkward face, as if he was somewhere in between amused and saddened.

"My lord, Yunchang and Yide would-"

"My Lord!" Zhou Cang sprinted into the chamber, a scroll in his hands.

Xuande gestured for Zhao Yun to grab the scroll and read it.

"My good friend Xuande, I hope you have been well? Your latest shipment of grain was received, and it fed hundreds of my people. We, once again, have utmost thanks for you and your benevolence, sending grain when not even a single bushel from the governor has reached us." Liu Bei's eyes widened in shock for a few seconds, before shaking his head and letting Zilong continue.

"General Liu, one of the arrangements we originally made after you spared me was that you would teach my son the arts of war. I sent my son Chao with this letter to give to you personally, so that he may enter your forces. Please accept him but do not treat him as an honored guest – he wishes to be an officer of yours, so please judge if he is worthy.

"Thank you once more, General. Thank you. Sincerely, Ma Teng." Zilong closed the scroll and offered to bring Ma Chao to him.

"You are forgetting, Ma Chao may want rest, he has rode all the way from Xiliang to our little Xiaopei. Ask him for his preference of where he wishes to go. Should he wish to come here, we will assemble all of the officers for introductions." Zhao Yun left immediately. Arriving of the gate, Zilong saw a much younger version of the last of the Five tiger Generals.

Ma Chao's long mane of hair was growing out, and he wore bright, vibrantly colored armor, and a beautifully crafted helmet, which looked similar to a lion's face with its mouth opened wide, and Chao's face was inside of the mouth. With him came two others, who also bore heroic visages, but not on the level of Ma Chao.

Dismounting, Ma Chao and his companions knelt before Zilong, who quickly had them rise. Upon asking for Chao's preference, the three of them requested to get to a home for quick rest. Upon entering a huge house with numerous servants, the three of them looked confused.

"Whose house is this? It is beautifully made, and working so efficiently!" Zilong smiled.

"As Ma Teng is a true friend of General Liu, he has decided to house you personally, with requests that you honor his wives, Lady Gan, and Lady Mi, and his daughter, Young Lady Hua, with respect. Another young fellow, son of war hero Wei Ping, also lives here, and will soon become a soldier or an officer in his forces." Deeply impressed and grateful, the three entered, where they found one room.

"General Liu was not aware that you would have companions with you, so he only set aside one room. I'll have someone bring up bedding for the both of you as well." The one on the left, the youngest, smiled and bowed.

"We'll be sure not to let General Liu down. My name is Ma Dai, younger cousin of Ma Chao, nephew of Ma Teng. I look forward to learning from you and your forces!" The one on the right, a strong-looking person about the same age as Ma Chao, bowed as well, low and humble.

"My name is Pang De, I seek to understand the ways of the warrior, however that may come about." Ma Chao laughed and bowed as well.

"We'll be sure to let Lord Liu understand how grateful we are. Are there any notable warriors that we could compare our skills to?" Zhao Yun laughed and walked the three of them to a balcony, where they heard a commotion. Below them was a young man around Ma Chao and Pang De's age, surrounded by a whole company of soldiers. Slashing his blunted polearm, he fought off dozens of strikes, and spectators watching the matchup shouted "YAN! YAN! YAN!" Ma Chao glared down at the spectacle, and Zilong could see that the young horse had already found himself a rival.

"Who is that warrior?" Zhao Yun pointed down.

"That is Wei Yan, son of Wei Ping. He is exceptional in fighting, but is also quite smart for his age, knowing advanced military tactics and precautions. I suspect he'll be a great officer one day." Ma Chao scoffed.

"Just because he's the son of someone important doesn't mean he'll amount to anything!" Zhao Yun laughed once more.

"He has sworn to be a foot soldier, and only become a general once he's proved his worth in battle, as if he never had that chance." Pang De looked intrigued, and stared intently at the young warrior.

"So you're saying-" Zhao Yun nodded.

"I'm saying that I suspect Wei Yan has the potential to be a great general, and will fit into that role very well by the time he's in his mid-twenties or early thirties." By now, Ma Chao was looking antsy, as Pang De and Ma Dai looked nervously at him.

"What is the issue, young Chao?" Ma Chao pointed at Wei Yan.

"His abilities are too close to my own! I must fight him to determine which of us is better; I of Xiliang, or he of Xiaopei!" Pang De reprimanded him.

"Chao, we must not be rude to our hosts. Lord Ma has requested for us to represent the folk of Xiliang well, and not undermine the relations between us." Zhao Yun shook his head.

"I don't mind, if anything, I'm excited. If young Ma Chao and his companions have military potential, our Lord may find himself with a nice array of officers down the road. What is there to complain in that?" Ma Dai shrugged, understanding enough about Yun's logic.

"Wei Yan!" The soldiers stopped their fighting as the young man looked up towards Zhao Yun.

"What is it, General Zhao?" Zhao Yun pointed at Ma Chao, Pang De, and Ma Dai.

"Please come up here, there are some people I'd like you to meet!" Wei Yan nodded and dropped his wooden polearm, rushing through the soldiers, into Liu Bei's house. Zhao Yun and the other three met Yan near the dining room, and Yan bowed respectfully, as did Pang De and Ma Dai. Ma Chao, however, did not.

"My name is Ma Chao, and these are my companions, Ma Dai and Pang De. I hereby challenge you to a duel!" Wei Yan looked mildly annoyed at Chao's arrogance and lack of respect, but agreed to the duel nonetheless.

After gaining a little bit of rest, Ma Chao and Wei Yan placed on their gear, gathered a weapon each, and sat on their horses, circling each other. By now, many soldiers and civilians alike had come to watch the duel – even Liu Bei and his officers, both military and civil, had arrived.

"My Lord, how do you feel about them fighting? One of them could get seriously injured, and that would hinder his journey to being an officer…" Looking at Sun Qian, Liu Bei laughed.

"Ma Chao and Wei Yan are both formidable warriors, and I have no doubt they will fight over fifty bouts before one emerges over the other. Sit back, and watch the talented youth show their prowess." Quieted down, the officers watched, as finally the two charged right at each other. Chao brought his spear and attempted to stab Yan, who in turn knocked it out of the way with his crescent moon blade. As the two clashed more and more, they threw a few curses at each other.

"You swine! How dare you think yourself superior on horseback to a man of Xiliang! I have fought bears incarnate, demons in human skin, and deceivers of the highest quality! What are you?"

"I am Wei Yan, and unlike you, I don't need titles, or my father's reputation to become worthy in Lord Liu's eyes! I am the boar which will slash your tendons, little colt!" Enraged, Chao charged once more, and Liu Xuande looked towards the fight, eyes darkening.

"My Lord? What is it?"

"Zilong, their fight reminds me of two events."

"Which?"

"Wei Yan reminds me of his 'sword dance' in front of Liu Zhang, and Ma Chao reminds me of his old demeanor, when he fought against Third Brother Yide. I think… I'm going to take a rest. Sun Qian, send for medics. Mi Zhu, start preparations for a feast. Jian Yong, check for news of the outside world. Zilong, you will be acting referee. Should you think they deserve any prizes for their military feats, which will be your call. Zhou Cang, Mi Fang, you two shall judge their military prowess, and give me a report on each." The officers nodded and bowed, as Xuande left, wiping a tear or two from his eyes.

"My Brothers, would you approve of me if you could see me now…"

"This is the end!"

"Try me!" Ma Chao swung his spear in a wild arc, as did Wei Yan. Chao struck Yan on the face and knocked him unconscious, but not before Yan smashed his larger weapon into Chao's side, knocking him to the ground.

"Are either of them conscious?" Mi Fang scouted out, and reported both were knocked out. Zhao Yun addressed the populace.

"Soldiers, Civilians, speak now! How have these two fought?"

"Like lions! Like dragon claws! Like generals of old!" Zilong nodded, and gave orders.

"There will be much work done to ensure we understand their strength. Medics, please move these two to their beds and treat them there. Pang De, please stay near Wei Yan to ensure he is recovered, and informed about the situation. Ma Dai, do the same for your elder cousin. Mi Zhu has already sent out orders to make a grand feast, and therefore, a feast will be held in the honor of our new guests from Xiliang, and the mighty fighting spirit they have brought with them!"

The crowd roared with approval – whenever Liu Xuande made a feast, he always requested for more food than was needed – spare food was given out to the poorest civilians, and everyone knew that Liu Bei picked the best food of the lot to give to his people.

Going back inside, Zhao Yun ran into Jian Yong, who was hurrying to Xuande's house.

"Good brother Xianhe, what has made you so distressed?"

"Grand General Zhao, please come with me to see Lord Xuande – something has happened!" Expression turning steely, Zhao Yun and Jian Yong sprinted to their lord's palace, and found him sitting down, with a strangely happy expression, drinking tea.

"I have been observing signs while the fight was finishing up… I assume a major event has happened?" Zhao Yun frowned and looked at a small scroll hanging limply in his hand, almost invisible. What had that scroll told him?

"Emperor Shao has been poisoned by Xiliang governor Dong Zhuo, and enthroned his younger brother, Emperor Xian – and he is having the power of the court stolen by the evil tyrant! The Lords of the nation have assembled a coalition in order to take him out, and a messenger from a lord choosing to remain anonymous has asked you to join it!" Liu Bei's face turned stony, but he nodded, clearly ready for the events that were to follow.

"Give us two days to start preparing, then we will respond. Every soldier will be equipped, Mi Fang and the civil officials will remain back here in Xiaopei. What has governor Tao said about the issue?"

"Sir, Governor Tao is an ally of Dong Zhuo, he has refused to take action against him." Sighing, Liu Bei stood up, but nodded anyway.

"Tao Qian won't betray the benevolence he has shown us. Prepare everything that can be used for the military in two days, then we will send out a response, confirming our intent, and march off towards the camp. Who is the leader?"

"The Commander in Chief of the army is Yuan Shao, styled Benchu. The Vice Commander is his cousin, Yuan Shu, styled Gonglu. The two of them have assembled a wide variety of lords, from Ma Teng, to Gongsun Zan, to even Sun Wentai!" The former Shu Emperor's eyes darkened at the mention of Wentai, but quickly brightened.

"Now will be the time to show Sun Jian our friendship still exists – prepare everything!" Jian Xianhe left, but Zhao Yun remained.

"My Lord, may I ask something?" Xuande nodded for him to ask.

"Young Lady Hua is still very little, are we sure we can leave her here?" Xuande nodded.

"I know the issue you're afraid of, and I have already told Sun Qian and Jian Yong to keep an eye on surveillance. They will be recruiting soldiers and sending them as reinforcements as soon as possible, with messages encoded. We also have measures in place should… _other_ forces try to intervene." Zhao Yun nodded faithfully.

"You know, Ma Chao, Pang De, and Wei Yan are all approaching manhood – will you bring them on the campaign?" Liu Xuande smiled.

"Of course. My only worry is that our little princess may be sorry that Yan is leaving…" Zhao Yun and Liu Bei both laughed.

Over the past few months, Liu Hua, who would occasionally wake up with nightmares, wander around until she inevitably got lost and wailed for help, or stumbled over something in the dark – common behavior for two year olds.

Whenever that would happen, Wei Yan would always be the first to ensure she was alright, in some kind of desire to repay her father for housing him after his own father had died. Thus, Hua had taken to sticking with Wei Yan as much as possible – waving out, trying to grab him during dinner, watching his training, coming to him for help on studies, the list went on.

"I wonder though, what has made Wei Yan so different this time around?" Liu Bei and Zhao Yun looked towards each other, both intrigued by the question.

"Before, he was slightly dim, a little brash, and a competent general. This Wei Yan seems more mature, more intelligent, more strategic – he talks more like Kongming than his old self at times…" Zhao Yun shook his shoulders.

"We have come back to our pasts to fix them, who knows what our influence may be, small as its ripples are of yet?" Liu Bei shrugged and stood up, moving towards the doorway.

"Regardless, Zilong, I have a… bright feeling about this. I don't know why, but I just feel it in the air – excitement, glory, and a desire for something." Zhao Yun shrugged, and looked towards the heavens.

"My Lord, let's assemble a hunt to test the young ones, and see what they can do." Smiling, Xuande brought his military officers, along with Ma Chao, Ma Dai, Wei Yan, and Pang De to a forest the next day.

"Everyone, this hunt is to sharpen your skills before our glorious undertaking to save the Han! Fight the beasts of the forest as you would the traitors who would eradicate our destiny!" Hearing cheers from all side, the officers spread out, and Zilong went off on his own. Walking through the woods with a bow, arrow, and spear, Zilong heard a crackling behind him, and saw a large boar step out from the underbrush.

The boar, though huge, was also extremely fat, and likely wouldn't put up a huge fight… Until Zilong saw that it wasn't the only one there, and there was a much more terrifying boar in the pack now surrounding him– large, fit, and its eyes only saw the famed general as a target. Charging, the strong boar led the others as the fat one sat back and watched at Zhao Yun, who rode his horse as far as he could, but the boars had no sign of stopping. Zilong was about to turn and fight when he heard the noises of other animals.

A tiger jumped out of the trees, claws leaving huge scrapes on the strong boar, while a bear charged out, roaring and bashing into several of the smaller boars, and the pack fled. Blinking, Zilong saw the tiger, majestic and fierce, and the bear, unruly but powerful, sitting side-by-side, staring right at the fat boar. Turning around once more, Zhao Yun fled, grateful for the animals' involvement.

As the famed general went out of sight, the tiger and bear walked out of the spot of the battle, before vanishing into purple shards…

As Zilong returned, he saw that Pang De, Ma Chao, and Wei Yan had each brought home a great deal of sport, but unfortunately not all of it could be cooked up and eaten. Regardless, the generals enjoyed a night of peace, before the grind of preparations the next day. Meanwhile, the Han imperial court had its own struggles…

"What do you all recommend I do?"

"Send me, father! I'll destroy their army a million times over!" Lu Bu roared, watching as Dong Zhuo laughed, clearly amused by his adopted son's vigor.

"There is no need to send an ox-cleaver to kill a chicken, is there? Send me and I'll take care of it for you, Lord Dong, Lord Lu." A powerful general by the name of Hua Xiong stepped forward, eyes steely and posture straight.

"Hua Xiong is an ideal warrior, but I don't believe he'll be ideal for forcing our alliances to recognize us." Dong and Lu looked towards him, as if asking for more details.

"Recently, Tao Qian of Xuzhou gained several powerful men in his ranks – A hero of the Yellow Turban Revolt – Liu Xuande, and a general by the name of Zhao Yun, styled Zilong. He has been a very outspoken advocate of the Han, and thus may choose to fight alongside the coalition instead of with his liege. Hua Xiong could easily defeat the enemy forces, but the catastrophe Lu Bu would cause to them would either scare off little Liu Bei, or pressure Tao Qian to remove him." Dong Zhuo turned to Li Ru once more.

"You said alliances, not alliance. Who else is a risky figure?"

"Ma Teng and Han Sui, despite showing outward signs of loyalty, are scheming against us. This can be easily seen because Ma Teng was once a Yellow Turban, but was captured and spared by Liu Bei! Bei, having formed some type of friendship with him, sends grain to 'support' the populace, and in return, Ma Teng sent his own son and nephew to fight in Liu's forces. Thus, should Lu Bu scatter our enemies, Ma Teng will be cowed, and will find himself in a precarious situation with his son's life on the line. Even now, we don't know where Ma Teng or his forces are, so I suspect they're with the rebels, even now." Dong Zhuo laughed, and Lu Bu grinned at Hua Xiong, who looked dejected.

"Regardless, Hua Xiong is a very capable general… Father! Send me as the commander of the vanguard army, with Hua Xiong, Gao Shun, and Zhang Liao as my subordinates! We will smash the enemy by the millions!" Smiling, Dong Zhuo took out the seals of command for the army, held up General of the Vanguard's seal.

"Lu Fengxian, assume the position of General of the Vanguard!" Lu Bu bowed and received the seal.

"Hua Xiong, you will be the Deputy Vanguard General. Receive your seal!" Hua Xiong stepped forward, bowed, and took his seal.

"Zhang Liao, receive the seal of Left Vanguard Commander! Gao Shun, receive the seal of Right Vanguard Commander!" The two stepped forward, each receiving his seal of command.

"The four of you will destroy this coalition, and take the heads of Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, Cao Cao, and anyone else foolish enough to stand in my way! Go forth!" The four men bowed once more, before leaving to rally their forces, but not before Li Ru stopped them with a plan in mind.

One week later, Liu Xuande and his soldiers were very close to Yuan Shao's camp at Sishui Gate, with the seventeen lords waiting inside. Bringing his generals forward, he gave them specific orders.

"Zhou Cang and Wei Yan will keep an eye on the situation out here, and make sure our army is safe. Pang De, ensure that our banners are flying high and true, proud and unwavering. Ma Chao and Zhao Yun, you two shall flank me as we enter the premises of the lords. Zilong is the greatest general in our forces, and Ma Chao is also quite strong, but also is the son of Ma Teng – it will show our alliance with him in clear terms." As his officers bowed and dispersed, Liu Bei wore his armor, simple though it may be, and wore his two swords at his hip. Zhao Yun wore an imitation of his former Baima regalia, and brought with him his spear. Ma Chao wore his proud and glittering armor, an expression befitting of the proud young colt on his face. Noticing Wei Yan seemed slightly surly, Xuande drew Zhou Cang aside.

"Tell Wei Yan that I know his skills are not inferior to Ma Chao's, but that his guarding of our army is in fact a show of how much I trust him to look after our people." Zhou Cang nodded and left, and Xuande moved towards the gate, where one of Yuan Shao's men saw the three.

"Who are you?"

"Liu Bei, styled Xuande, governor of Xiaopei. I have brought my meagre host to serve in our glorious coalition and restore the Han Empire's glory! The guard looked over him and laughed heartily.

"How could a weakling like you even consider serving amongst us? Your armor is lackluster, your guards look like show-horses, and I've never even heard of this Xiaopei – it must be very small indeed!" Ma Chao was about to argue further, but a laugh from further outside stopped him.

"And I would be the exact same, were it not for my attempted assassination of the traitor Dong Zhuo! However, Heaven has determined that my attempt will succeed, eh? Let this good man in, if he's willing to fight alongside us." Liu Bei stopped dead in his tracks upon hearing the voice of one so familiar. The guard similarly stiffened, but for entirely different reasons.

"General Cao! Lord Yuan is waiting for you inside." Cao Cao shook his head.

"I cannot enter until you allow this Liu Bei into our walls." After weighing the options in his head, the guard opened the gates for both Cao's force and Liu Bei's group of three.

"Thank you for convincing him, General." Cao Cao laughed.

"Why so stiff? Have I offended you already, General Liu? Please, come inside. I'm sure you can join one of the seventeen forces." Liu Bei looked sharply at Cao Cao.

"What if I joined yours, General…?" Cao Cao looked confused for half a second before his face returned to a neutral, if slightly jovial expression.

"My name is Cao Cao, styled Mengde. How could I cage a dragon like yourself in my puny militia? Why not find someone else who can better serve your ambitions, like the lords inside? Come, let's meet them." Somewhat reluctantly, Liu Bei followed Cao inward, he and Zilong exchanging a look, both of them missing Ma Chao's distrusting stare at Cao.

"He seems a bit off, General. I wouldn't trust him." Said Ma Chao, still looking at Mengde.

"Your instincts are correct, young Chao. He is one to be wary of – his ambitions could easily make him an emperor." Nodding, Zhao Yun gestured inward, and Yuan Shao looked at him with scrutiny.

"And with Cao Cao, that makes eighteen… Wait… I don't remember inviting a nineteenth army! Who are you?" Liu Bei nodded humbly before speaking.

"My name is Liu Bei, styled Xuande. I have brought my humble host from Xiaopei in Xuzhou to serve in your army, and restore the great Han empire." Another general, Liu Dai, spoke up.

"And how can we be sure you are not here to serve as Tao Qian's spy in our forces? We know about his pitiful alliance with the villain!" Liu Bei addressed him directly.

"General Liu Gongshan, despite my great respect for Governor Tao, I have three reasons to serve in your army. The first, the rank and title I received in Xuzhou was entirely due to Emperor Ling, and thus I must repay him by serving his son, Emperor Xian, faithfully. The second; I am a descendant of Prince Liu Zhen of Zhongshan, and thus an Imperial in-law – I must save my family. The third; if Dong Zhuo is not defeated now, I suspect the realm will never see peace under the Han again. We must defeat him now." Liu Dai still looked unconvinced.

"Liu Bei is an honest and incorrupt man – he has long supported the starving Qiang people of my area. I will vouch for him with my life!" Looking over, Liu Bei saw Ma Teng stand up in support of him. Staring down Liu Dai, Ma Teng recounted the events of the Yellow Turban rebellion.

"That just means you're biased towards him! It doesn't mean he's competent enough to join this alliance!" Said Yuan Shu, who eyed Xuande with suspicion.

"I'll vouch for him as well. Liu Bei, no matter where his faults lie, is truly on the side of the Han." Liu Bei looked over in shock to see Sun Jian, Sun Wentai, standing up in support of him as well. Sighing, Yuan Shao ordered for silence, and asked for a small stool for Xuande to sit on. Looking outraged, Ma Chao and Zhao Yun were undoubtedly about to protest the poor treatment of their lord, but Xuande sat down regardless. Sighing, Yuan Shao turned to Cao Cao, who was explaining something.

"I suspect that, should Dong Zhuo field an army, he and his son Lu Bu will personally command the center, with Li Jue, Guo Si, Fan Chou, and Zhang Ji guarding the front, back, left, and right of the main force. Hua Xiong, one of his most valiant commanders, will likely take the forefront, with Hu Zhen bringing up the rearguard. As such, we must plan to fight Hua Xiong first." Yuan Shao nodded, and the other lords did too.

"So when do you expect this Hua Xiong will arrive, brother Mengde?" Liu Bei was completely at peace, even when a scout rushed in, announcing the arrival of a Xiliang force with the banners of a general named 'Hua'. Cao Cao, noticing Liu Bei's lack of surprise, asked him why.

"This alliance was created not too long ago, but has the support of many prominent lords. Honestly, I'm surprised that Dong Zhuo did not attack sooner, and try to break us up before our armies had assembled. Regardless, I assume he sent Hua Xiong's army here to shatter our alliance before his generals go on a hunt for each one individually." Cao Cao nodded in agreement.

"So, who shall go out to fight this Hua Xiong?" Liu Bei signaled to Ma Chao and Zhao Yun not to volunteer. Yu She, a general under Yuan Shu, volunteered.

"He will be cut down, as will Pang Feng, a warrior under Liu Dai, and so will general Bao Zhong, younger brother of Bao Xin. Let them fall and have their pride withered." As the two generals obeyed his order, the three generals went out in quick succession – Yu She lasted only one bout, Pang Feng, less than a bout, and Bao Zhong was cut down as soon as he entered range of Hua Xiong's weapon. Now three generals down, Yuan Shao looked rightly worried, as Liu Bei gestured to Zhao Yun.

"I am Zhao Yun, styled Zilong, of Changshan! I volunteer to fight Hua Xiong!" Everyone in the coalition looked at Zhao Yun, as Yuan Shao prepared to give his response.

What did the coalition leader say?

Read on.

 **I love how the three kingdoms books end chapters. It amuses me. So, I have two prompts, which you can send me the answers to either via review or pm:**

 **1\. Liu Bei's Five Tiger Generals vs Cao Cao's Five Elite Generals - who would win? How would such a battle be fought?**

 **2\. Interpret Zhao Yun's encounter in the forest - What does it represent? What do the purple shards mean?**

 **I look forward to your answers :)**

 **~KingsOfSarutobi**


	11. Chapter 11: Enter, Bear!

**So watching people reply to each others' reviews is fun. So are quizzes, projects, & tests. Totally not annoying.**

 **ANYWHOOO, I'll reply to reviews now, since there are a few that need attention.**

 **SilentNinja (x2):**

 **1: That... Is something I didn't know. The irony which I don't feel anyone picked up on was the fact that Ma Chao was the son of someone important - Ma Teng was a warlord & powerful general. As for the Five Tiger Generals prompt... Interesting. I like your ideas.**

 **2: Your reviews give me very nefarious ideas of things I could add, and I don't regret any of them :).**

 **Jennifer Wilson: Your work with Horse and Boar are on point, as with Hou Yi, but I don't expect you to realize Tiger and Bear's identities until the end of this chapter. Then you _should_ know - you're plenty smart enough to connect a couple quotes from the Three Kingdoms, especially with Tiger. As for Stag... It's a long shot. Here's a hint: This character WILL NOT be a time traveler, and only worked with Liu Bei very briefly, but then worked for another person. I give you... Actually a long time to figure this one out. He'll be out of the story for a while. Have fun. Liu Shan hasn't been replaced btw, he just has yet to be born. As for the Wei Yan piece... Look at end of Ch. 8, beginning of Ch. 9. I feel you may have to rethink that position.**

 **Dynasty Guest (x3):**

 **1: I'll just deal with both of your lengthy ones on a case-by-case. Here's a hint: Tiger and Bear are people. Use that, and see if you can guess who one of them is before the end. As for Zhang Fei & Guan Yu? Well... They'll be interesting. Let's leave it at that. As for Liu Hua, she's probably the best OC I could ever create, partly due to the cuteness factor of a two-year-old, partly because she'll play an important role later on. Consider her a late-story 'Hypothetical' which has some significant impact. Zhen Ji won't be dealt the shitty hand she was given before - I feel she is a very important and good human being, therefore I'm not going to have Cao Pi throw her away like a plaything. As for the other generals; case-by-case. Has Cao Cao been sent back? Who knows? We certainly know he's capable of putting on just about every persona, so don't get too comfy with one idea or the other. As for the topic of the Sun clan, Jian has already had some differences, and Sun Ce will be important in the future, don't worry. Shangxiang... Well... I don't know what I'll do with her at this stage. While it would be amusing to have them reunite, I'm bad with emotional scenes - not my forte.**

 **2: You always provide me with gloriously huge amounts of information. I'll blaze through the ones that are pertinent to the story, due to a lack of time.**

 **-Inventions: Yueying will be important, as it was stated that her intellect was a match of Zhuge Liang's. I won't do her injustice.**

 **-On the topic of government stances & market freedom, don't expect too much. Economy is one of my weak points, and so I'll likely ignore them altogether, and assume they are the same as whatever policies the Han had during their heyday.**

 **-The end of the Roman Empire and the Han are an interesting connection, and tribes like the Huns getting involved and subjugating the Scythians and Roxolani made the situation all the more interesting. I don't know if I'll have any western connections, but who knows what could happen under a land of Benevolence?**

 **3: I liked reading this one :D. Nice to see dialogue between reviewers.**

 **Now that I've done that, I'll start the chapter. Be warned, I have gone over this one a few times and it still seems a bit iffy for my tastes. It might not be the best I've ever made.**

 **~KoS**

* * *

 **熊 - A bear, brilliant, bright.**

 **Trivia: Zhang Fei's drunken rages cost him Liu Bei's first title, the entirety of Xu province, and his own life. Sounds like he should go to rehab.**

* * *

"You're barely of age! How could a whelp like you take on a demon like Hua Xiong?" Zhao Yun closed his eyes, and remembered both the dream Liu Bei had during the battle against Ma Teng and Zhou Cang, and then remembered his own encounter with the boars, the bear, and the tiger.

"I will defeat Hua Xiong. He will be driven back or killed, this I can guarantee!" Zhao Yun smashed the butt of his spear into the ground, and the lords looked alarmed at the casual display of strength.

"But still, what will we do to you when you get driven back, and bring shame on us?"

"You can take my head." The lords all looked at Zilong's seriousness, and Cao Cao laughed once more.

"This Zhao Yun is quite valiant – why not sponsor his request? If he loses, he dies. If he wins, he proves the value of his lord. Come, Zhao Zilong, drink the ceremonial wine." Zhao Yun looked at Cao Cao and the wine, and then shook his head.

"Wine will not determine this battle. Only Heaven and my own skills can shape this battlefield!" With that, Zilong turned and left, bright cape flashing in the wind. Liu Bei sat with his eyes closed, his face at peace. Sun Jian looked at him.

"Do you have no care that your subordinate is going to his death? Both his reputation and yours are on the line here…" Liu Bei opened his eyes and looked at his once-friend from the Turban revolt.

"Wentai, have you forgotten Zhao Zilong's valor from all of those years ago? He has only grown in strength since then, and is truly a force to be reckoned with. Hua Xiong alone is not fit to be his match on the battlefield." Silent once more, Xuande closed his eyes and thought long and hard – now both he and Zilong had a dream or vision of a bear and tiger acting as a protector. Smiling once more, Xuande fiddled with a fantasy of what they could be, even though he knew it was impossible.

"General Xuande, your warrior is gallant and brave, I look forward to seeing him drive off Hua Xiong. Is he… a sworn brother of some kind? You seem awfully close to the fellow." Liu Bei laughed.

"I'd say… Perhaps. Perhaps he's as close as a brother. He is a dragon on the battlefield, and I would be shocked if he failed to kill General Hua." Sun Jian nodded, grudgingly looking after Zilong. Cao Cao turned his eyes onto the Tiger General, and Liu Bei felt sickened, knowing that even in a new life, Cao Cao was still looking at his generals like they were pawns for the taking.

As Zhao Yun mounted his horse and handled his spear, the other generals with the exception of Ma Chao, who was still with Xuande.

"Everyone, I have very specific orders for you…" Listening in, everyone was curious what Zilong had to say.

"I have a plan which will earn our Lord great honor, and maybe even get him promoted to the status of lordship within these forces. Pang De, Wei Yan!" The two warriors stepped forward.

"Pang De, I suspect that Hua Xiong will not be the only warrior to fight me. I need you to have the soldiers on the wall scream if another general comes to fight me. Wei Yan, I need you to fly two flags from the towers – one with the character Hu (Tiger), another with Xiong (Bear). The instant Pang De yells that another general is coming, have the men wave the flags viciously. Zhou Cang!"

"Here!"

"Have the men set up a camp, set up a regular guard, and send people to purchase wine. Our Lord will end the day the happiest man alive. However, before you do that, send someone to give our lord a message; the Tiger and Bear have arrived." Zhou Cang blinked, and the other two generals seemed perplexed, before Wei Yan showed a slight light in his eyes, indicating he thought of something.

"Generals, should I not return, know I have died." Aghast, the three looked at Zilong, who was viewed by them all as an invincible warrior.

"Now, the time for battle has arrived…" Zhao Yun charged out of the gate, and stopped his horse about twenty meters out, where the horde of Dong Zhuo's vanguard approached. In the front was Hua Xiong, whose axe was stained with the blood of three generals, who, with their horses, lay dead in a pile behind him. As Zhao Yun pointed his spear towards Hua Xiong, he moved forward, and the two generals circled each other. After they had done a 180, with Zhao Yun facing the stockade and Hua Xiong facing his own forces, Zhao Yun saw the two banners he had requested spring from the towers. Nodding, he lowered his spear and the two warriors charged to the screaming of soldiers.

Zhao Yun, while slightly worried about the weight behind the axe, quickly found that his weapon was much quicker, and was able to deal several stab wounds in quick succession. Hua Xiong then swung his axe, as if to cleave Zilong's head in two. Yun quickly used the pole of his spear and blocked the small area between the axe head and the pole of his rival's, and thus locked them in a stalemate. Breathing in for several seconds to allow air to flow through him once more, Zhao Yun kicked the sides of his horse, which stood up on its hind legs and kicked the face of Hua's. Alarmed, Hua Xiong fell off, and found that his heavy axe, which he could easily wield with the support of being horseback, was now unwieldy.

Hua tried to run back, but Zilong was fierce and swift, but called off the chase as he heard Pang De's cries, and saw two contingents of cavalry smashing in towards him from either side. From the left, a banner with "Gao" on it waved in the wind. From the right, a banner with Zhang. At the lead of each was a prominent general, Gao Shun or Zhang Liao. Knowing his horse was swift and that he could still potentially kill Hua Xiong, Zilong continued, hoping that the cavalry charging would end up behind him, giving Zilong the potential to ride his way around the camp and enter from the rear. Quickly catching up to Hua, he jabbed his spear towards the general, who feared for his life… Before his spearhead was deflected by a much heavier weapon.

"Hua Xiong, what are you doing, playing with these VERMIN? Leave this one to me, I'll slay him once and for all!" Zhao Yun now felt true fear. Standing before him, dark armor and gleaming halberd sitting above a red steed, was a true demon to be feared. Face bared in anger, Lu Bu overpowered Zhao Yun, forcing him to flee through the gap created by the cavalry charge. Before he had turned a corner, Gao Shun caught up to him, so he turned once more towards the center, continuing to outrun the commanders. Pang De then shouted something that made Zilong smile.

"More forces incoming!" Allowing the enemy cavalry contingents to mass up, Zilong then turned and wheeled, driving himself and his spear into the enemy lines, slicing through men. As the forces surrounded him, the two forces Pang De screamed about arrived.

Smashing the donut-like shape of Dong Zhuo's forces, two forces met their mark as two sides of the formation collapsed.

Inside, Liu Bei listened intently to what was going on outside, while maintaining a calm composure. Listening, he heard the sounds of numerous horses neighing, numerous men shouting, and the clinks, bashes, and squelches of men doing butcher's work.

"Zilong is in an interesting situation…" The generals listened to what was going on outside, and many of the warlords did too. Looking towards the wall though, Liu Xuande noticed the tiger and bear flags hanging down and waving wildly. Narrowing his eyes, the former Shu emperor noticed Wei Yan leading soldiers in roars and chants, just what was he up to? However, within a minute, there was dead silence, before an ear-splitting roar shook the ground and frightened several men, including Cao Cao himself. Liu however, grew deathly pale and froze in his seat, brain getting stuck in the cogs of what was going on.

It was not until several minutes later that the roar declined into silence once more, and the murmurs of soldiers were heard, even in high command.

"Who are those guys?"

"I think they're on our side…"

"They saved that Zhao guy!"

"Is that one a god? His screams are like thunder on _tianxia*_!"

"That one is terrifying, I'm glad I'm on the wall!" The murmurs continued until the sound of the gate opening drowned them out, and a column of men entered, but only two continued towards high command. Yuan Shao saw the one at the lead and paled slightly, and felt his heart quaver.

"That one is divine – if he isn't, who is?" Cao Cao's eyes also widened in shock, and Liu Bei was still frozen in place. Entering the tent, Zhao Yun gave his lord a message,

"One of the generals who saved me requests that he can join our forces." Liu Bei looked over Zilong's form.

"Zilong, what happened to you?"

"An ambush by four enemy forces; Zhang Liao's, Gao Shun's, Lu Bu himself, and Hu Zhen's. This man's forces saved my life, and…" and he said the final clause to his lord quietly, so that no one else could hear.

"This one is a time traveler too, recognized me without a hitch. I think you'll be very happy. If you don't accept, I may find myself in a tricky situation." Liu Bei nodded, but told Zilong to get medical attention. Turning to Ma Chao, Xuande told him to bring the general to his camp, and meet him alone. However, before Zilong left, the man threw a bag on the floor.

"Head of General Hu Zhen of Dong Zhuo's forces. All of the enemy forces have been pushed back several miles by our vicious onslaught." Yuan Shao looked flabbergasted as he turned towards Xuande, who looked very antsy to leave.

"General Liu, before you leave, I have a decree to make." Turning towards Yuan Shao, Liu Bei was apprehensive.

"I declare the addition of a nineteenth force! Its leader: Liu Bei, Governor of Xiaopei!" With that, the generals and lords passed out wine, using the new force as an excuse to drink, as Xuande took his leave.

* * *

As the former Shu emperor entered his command center and waited, he looked towards the heavens, seeing that the Han's stars were proud and bright. Looking towards his tent, he found that someone had left four bowls of wine, and judging by the heat of it, had not been long ago at all – it was still warm.

Ma Chao entered the building and said that the new general had arrived, and left with a small smile. Nervously, Xuande waited, until he saw the figure enter – then he internally quailed. Standing in the doorway was a man much larger than him, with a wiry beard, round, fierce face, and beady eyes. He was the type of person who would be both dangerous drunk and sober. Upon seeing Liu Bei, the big general got tears in his eyes, and rushed towards the new lord of the nineteenth force.

"BROTHER!" With that, the general encompassed his 'brother' in a bear hug.

"I died, brother! I was killed in my sleep!" Liu Bei's memory had not faltered from one life to the next.

"Yide… my youngest brother… So you were the one Zilong talked about…" Zhang Fei nodded, weeping into his brother. Finally letting him go after several minutes, the former Tiger General drank his bowl of wine greedily, and then turned to his eldest brother angrily.

"Brother, why did you keep me and Yunchang from entering your army!" Liu Bei turned away from him.

"I already lost my brothers once, how could I risk losing you again?" Zhang Fei looked angrily towards his brother, and pointed a finger at him.

"And how could that have helped us any? We could have easily died in other ways too, have you not forgotten the number of civilians who died?" Liu Bei looked down in embarrassment, but remained silent. Sighing, Zhang Fei sat down too.

"Oh well. At least we have a second shot at saving the Han."

"Is it truly a second shot without Second Brother?" Zhang Fei laughed sadly.

"I talked with him for a bit, during the Turban rebellion. He's back too." Liu Bei looked up.

"All three of us have returned? Where is he?"

"After hearing that you refused to accept us, he decided to prove his worth to your army somehow. I suspect he'll join our army once he's become a national hero again." Liu Bei felt guilty, noticing that Zhang Fei at least seemed more mature than his old days.

"So Zilong has been working in the army a lot too, huh?"

"Yeah, he came back."

"Oh, I'm more than aware. Who do you think told me that now would be a good time to join up?" Liu Bei looked at him with confusion.

"I was the one who recruited the troops Zilong used to save you guys during the Turban rebellion, and it was I and Yunchang who slew that rebel army, along with a small cohort of Zilong's followers." Xuande remembered the carnage of years prior – an army of sixty thousand demolished overnight.

"Those are all the reasons I'm glad you're on my side, Brother." Zhang Fei laughed.

"Well, for what it's worth, I'm glad I'm on your side too!" The two brothers roared in laughter as Zilong came in the room, bandages crisscrossing his body.

"My Lord, Yide, I assume you've reacquainted well?" Liu Bei nodded and sat down.

"So us three and Yunchang have come back…" Zhao Yun smiled and laughed.

"I think I know one more who has…" Liu Bei looked up in interest, and then furrowed his eyebrows before making a guess.

"Let me think… It couldn't be, could it?" Zhao Yun nodded, looking outside.

"Why don't you come inside…"

Who did Liu Bei and Zhang Fei see?

Read on.

 **I love that ending. SO, we have Zhang back, and Guan wandering around in the wilderness, probably finding ways to clone Red Hare.**

 ***Tianxia literally means "Under Heaven", and is a term used to refer to China, despite meaning the world as a whole.**

 **Style Names:**

 **Zilong - Zhao Yun**

 **Wentai - Sun Jian**

 **Xuande - Liu Bei**

 **Yide - Zhang Fei**

 **Yunchang - Guan Yu**


	12. Chapter 12: The Secret Timetraveller

**I'm forgetful, and Thanksgiving was a bit of a wild ride, so I'm just glad I had this finished earlier. Sorry it hasn't been released yet.**

 **Reviews:**

 **ChenGong91: Lets hope so!**

 **SkullKat90210: Your instincts were right ;D. The person that Zhang Fei saw... Well... Have fun with this one. As for twists, or cliffhanger endings?** **Well... I won't say any more! The piece on time is very crucial though.**

 **flevantein: Hehe, Yunchang would have to return. The question of Yunchang vs Yide can be shown in a huge # of debates, but the fact of the matter is, we really don't know the details historically - how much of Shu, Wei, and Wu were just legend made into fact rather than vice versa?**

 **Jennifer Wilson: I'll PM you yours, give me a day or two to get it in.**

 **StellarLupine: You'll figure out!**

 **ANYWHO, I'm tired, and I want to send this one out.**

 **~KoS**

* * *

 **来 - To come, to arrive, to come round.**

 **Trivia: Zhuge Qiao, a son of Sun Wu's Zhuge Jin, was adopted by Kongming, and served Shu despite his father's reputation in Wu. Qiao's son, Zhuge Pan, returned to Wu after the Zhuge clan there was massacred, in order to continue the lineage.**

* * *

"My Lord, what do you think?" Cao Cao turned to his cousin Ren, who looked at him with confusion.

"I think there's more to Liu Bei than what is being said." Cao Ren looked even more confused, as the two men walked towards the Cao camp.

"Well, what makes you feel that way?"

"His emotional fluctuations during the fight against Hua Xiong were intense, so much so that they were visible. What was with the changes from pale with dread, to excitement, to confusion? Additionally, he left so soon after his ascension to Lordship, one would expect something is happening with him." Cao Ren nodded as the two of them approached the Cao center of command.

"Oh well… Let's see what the others have found, My Lord." Cao Cao nodded, and walked into the tent.

"My Lord, welcome back." Another cousin, Xiahou Dun, welcomed his Lord back, as the others sitting around the table matched him.

"Brothers-in-arms, what have you found so far?" Cao Hong spoke up first.

"My Lord, after Liu Bei left, I tailed him back to his camp, where I watched Ma Teng's son escort the general who slew Hu Zhen in."

"Describe the general. I want to know exactly who this man is." Cao Hong recollected.

"He was a big man, built like a bear. He had a wiry beard, a flask of alcohol, and a Serpent-Headed spear. His name was… Zhang something. Him and the Ma child seemed friendly enough to each other, laughing about something." Cao Cao's eyes narrowed as he nodded, letting Cao Hong's report sink into his head.

"Who's next?" Yue Jin, a man with dual hookswords and a traditional Han helmet, spoke up.

"My Lord, while drinking with the generals, I found out something interesting." Cao Cao requested for him to speak.

"The leading general under Han Fu, a fellow named Zhang He, was talking about ways to fix economic issues, and several of his solutions seem in line with your ideals – land redistribution, effective management of labor, clever management of time, and all sorts of things. I suspect that if things go sour between him and his lord, we should be well-poised to invite him." Cao Cao nodded and allowed a laugh to escape him.

"So, Han Fu's leading general is more like me than him? That is something that can be used for my ambition…" Yue Jin smiled both externally and internally, before sitting down. The next man, Li Dian, spoke up.

"All of Liu Bei's men have been holed up in their camp, or defending the walls. None of them have taken part of the festivities the others are." Cao Cao nodded sagely.

"Your intuition is usually quite brilliant, Li Dian. What do you think?" Li Mancheng frowned.

"I suspect that Liu Bei is trying to keep his commanders tied down to him – if they saw the wonders of this world, would they really hold onto the little power of Liu Bei's Xiaopei?" Cao Cao nodded, and looked towards his other commanders.

"My Lord, I discovered the presence of an intrepid warrior in the service of Dong Zhuo, who has since contacted us, desiring to serve under your banner." Cao Cao's eyebrows narrowed.

"I'm not exactly the most well-liked figure, who would dare risk defecting from Dong Zhuo to serve a small Cao Cao?" Xiahou Yuan smiled.

"The man's name is Xu Huang, Xu Gongming. He wields a great axe in battle, and believes strongly in the warrior ethos." Cao Cao also smiled and nodded, turning to his final commander – Xiahou Dun, styled Yuanrang.

"My Lord, I have also found the presence of an intrepid warrior, and requested for him to join our services."

"Oh? Who is this warrior?"

"His name is Guan Yu, styled Yunchang. He wields a great crescent moon blade, has a mighty beard, and the visage of a phoenix." Cao Cao blinked.

"What an incredible image! Has this warrior joined?"

"No, my lord. On the contrary, he has insisted on insulting your cause, labelling you slanderous things."

"Oh? Like what?"

"Traitor and Eunuch's Child among other things..." Cao Cao laughed.

"Is betraying Dong Zhuo not something to be proud of? What else has he said?"

"He said that you are nothing more than a weak man who relies on tricks to get what he wants. He labels you a traitor, friend-killer, and refers to you as the most cursed being under heaven." Cao Cao laughed a great deal.

"This man sounds interesting. What happened afterward?"

"I took him on in single combat."

"And?"

"We battled for fifty rounds, but he dismounted me and placed his blade to my neck, but asked me to return to you, to deliver that message."

"Fifty rounds, eh? And still defeated you? Quite a strong one indeed. Anything else?"

"Yes, from what I can tell, he's wandering around Yan province, but looks to be moving towards Jing. As for what his goal is, not even I can tell." Cao Cao nodded and dismissed his commanders. Xiahou Yuan grabbed the arm of his elder cousin and walked outside, as the two of them talked.

"What do you think?"

"I think we'd best make the most of this war. Our Lord can gain a lot of fame very quickly depending on how we act." Xiahou Dun nodded, stroking his small goatee.

"And why would you want to inflate our Lord's power? If he rises to quickly, he will be overestimated, and targeted by forces far larger than what we can handle. I'd rather not have Yuan Shao or Yuan Shu attacking us any time soon, eh?" Xiahou Yuan shook his head.

"On the contrary, we need to speed up our Lord's path of conquest as soon as possible."

"Oh? Is this for our Lord, or a personal reason, Miaocai?" Xiahou Yuan looked his cousin dead in the face.

"I'd rather not be shot down at Dingjun again. If we capture Yizhou before Liu Bei, we won't have to worry about those troublesome generals of his. If we succeed, we can ensure the lives of Dian Wei and Guo Jia remain in our lord's service. We can prevent the battle of Chibi, and eliminate all of the threats to our lord, including Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Sun Quan, Zhou Yu, and whoever else dares stand in the way." Xiahou Dun smirked.

"So you aren't only in it for one cause or the other, but obscure which one is the real cause with description. I should have expected no less, brother." Xiahou Yuan laughed and went off to get some drink, before stopping and turning around.

"You know brother, it's hard to tell, but I think we aren't the only ones to come back."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, Xu Huang wouldn't have sought us out unless he had come back too, and Zhang He didn't adopt those ideals until after he had served in our Lord's forces for a few years. Aside from that, I don't know who else has returned to life."

"It seems that things are different too. I noticed that one of Sun Jian's four generals from this time had already died, and even Liu Bei has a different title, calling himself Governor of Xiaopei! He's no more than a prefect, let alone a governor…" Xiahou Yuan nodded.

"Additionally, why do you think Guan Yu isn't with his brother, and Zhang Fei just arrived today, but Zhao Yun was already with Liu Bei, along with Wei Yan and Ma Chao? Is that not strange?" Xiahou Dun nodded.

"Not even those large changes can stem from us coming back. I suspect several of our enemies may have arrived too."

"It's a shame our Lord hasn't returned."

"Well, you haven't asked him outright. How do you know for sure?"

"Our Lord would have started to recruit men of ability as soon as possible, yet he retained us six like he did back then."

"Let's think about something, brother." The two men sat down.

"Imagine that someone like… Liu Bei or Guan Yu has returned in time. Think about the ruckus that's happened to Liu Bei over the past few years – he's already started to diverge from his old life." Xiahou Yuan nodded.

"Imagine how one of our enemies would react if he knew that Lord Cao had returned? Wouldn't they try to strike him down now, while he's weak?" Xiahou Yuan nodded again, and cut his cousin off.

"So he could be lying low, trying to keep up a façade of unknowing…"

"But that's all speculation. I suspect that he truly hasn't returned, given his lackluster reactions to Zhang Fei and Guan Yu's mention." The Xiahou cousins sighed.

"Oh well. Hopefully sometime we can tell our Lord the truth about what happened. Maybe we can prevent your death at Dingjun too." Xiahou Yuan laughed, and bade his surrogate brother farewell. Little did they know that their conversation wasn't as private as they thought…

* * *

"Are you…"

" _Shan Fu's merits far outweigh his consequences, and executing a key general in the middle of a campaign would weaken our army and its morale tremendously."_ As the voice ringed inside his head, Liu Bei thought back.

 _~Xiaopei, Three Months Earlier~_

"Yan-Yan!" Little Liu Hua reached out to Wei Yan, as the young man lifted her up onto his lap. Giggling happily, she flailed her arms around as she turned towards her father. Sitting down, Liu Bei chuckled at the sight of his daughter's large eyes looking right at him.

"Does someone enjoy Wei Yan?" Liu Hua nodded.

"What does Yan do?"

"Yan-Yan helped me learn words!"

"Oh?"

"He taught me the word _Hu_!"

"Tiger?" Liu Bei turned towards Wei Yan, slightly confused.

"A stranger dropped a picture of a majestic tiger here, asking your lordship to admire it. As I was looking after Lady Hua while the man showed up, I showed her the picture and asked if she knew what it was. As she didn't know, I taught it to her." Liu Bei laughed.

"You teach her words, look after her, and help her with studies? You truly spoil my daughter, Wei Yan!" Both men laughed as Hua looked confusedly between them. At this point, Lady Mi walked in, grabbing young Hua.

"It's time for sleep, isn't it, my little child?" Liu Hua shook her head as she turned towards her father, but her eyes rested on Wei Yan. Frowning, she turned around and babbled happily to her mother. About a minute after, Liu Bei turned towards Wei Yan.

"Just why do you give her such huge measures of kindness anyhow?" Wei Yan looked surprised, as if it was obvious.

"My Lord, was it not you who allowed me to follow my father to war, who allowed me to argue on Shan Fu's behalf, who allowed me to live in your esteemed home and treat me so benevolently?" Liu Bei slowly nodded, agreeing with the points stated.

"How could I, your junior, repay the great gifts that were given to your servant? Thus, as someone with more experience in the world, I should look after and assist your family in any way I can." Liu Bei stood up, and gestured for Wei Yan to follow. As the two of them entered a room and found Zhao Yun sitting nearby, they sat down with the powerful general.

"Ah, Yan, how go your studies and training?" Wei Yan smiled, and the two time travelers asked Yan a variety of questions to test his strategic, civil, and memorization skills. Upon completion, which was several hours afterward, the two older men retired, and the younger sat down on a nice bench, not noticing that he was drowsing off…

About an hour later, the sounds of stuff being moved and feet pitter-pattering on the floor could be heard.

"Oof!" A tiny voice said, as Wei Yan's eyes adjusted to the lack of light.

"Who goes there?" The pitter-pattering came closer.

"Yan-Yan!" Wei Yan, still half asleep, registered that a new, small weight had found itself upon his ankle.

"Lady Hua, what are you doing up so late? You're too young to be awake this hour, never mind without your father's permission!" Liu Hua buried her face in Wei Yan's lower leg.

"But I wanted to play with Yan-Yan!" Sighing, Wei Yan picked up the small child in his arms and returned her to her room, after sternly telling her to go to bed this time.

"Thank you for handling that, Wei Yan." Turning around, Wei Yan was surprised to see Liu Bei standing not too far away, eyes completely adjusted to the darkness.

"After I saw that my daughter was not content with leaving you, I assumed she would show up eventually and wanted to know what would happen." Wei Yan bowed.

"Even still, it is my fault she had such rebellious ideas. I am greatly sorry!" Liu Bei shook his head.

"Nonsense. Even if that were the case, you more than redeemed the issue by fixing it. You shouldn't be losing sleep either though – you're much too young to be staying up the long hours that I and Zilong are awake for. Nodding, Wei Yan left, as Liu Bei looked to the retreating figure.

"Just what's responsible for your change…"

"…Wei Yan?" The figure in the doorway entered, revealing the man who would one day become Wei Yan, styled Wancheng – a powerful general who some believed to be an equal of the Five Tiger Generals of Shu, an impressive feat.

"My Lord, it is… Great to see I am not the only one given another chance." Zhang Fei roared in delight and got a drink for Wancheng, clapping him on his back.

"My Lord, General Zhao, I never would have assumed the two of you met the same kind of fate as General Zhang and myself…"

"Same fate?"

"Betrayal. Were you not betrayed too?" Zhao Yun's eyes narrowed.

"No, why would you think that?"

"General Zhang has come back in time, and he was killed by betrayal, and I was killed too, only much later…"

"Betrayal? Who killed you?" Wei Yan's eyes, shadowed, looked at his lord.

"I was murdered by General Ma Dai on the orders of Prime Minister Zhuge Liang."

 **I tired.**

 **I need sleep.**

 **As usual, send in thoughts of what you think might happen.**

 **BUT, I have 2 questions you all should think about guessing the answers to;**

 **1\. Would Wei Yan's plot to take Chang'an succeed? Why or why not?**

 **2\. What is Yunchang doing near Jingzhou?**

 **I like seeing your replies.**

 **Happy Hunting,**

 **KoS**


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